THE 

HISTORY  OF 

THE  UNITED  STATES 


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Jh^^^fPr^^ 


Edition  de  Luxe 
Vol.1 


THE 

HISTORY  OF 

THE  UNITED  STATES 

By 
JAMES  WILFORD  GARNER,  Ph.D. 

AND 

HENRY  CABOT  LODGE.Ph.D..L  LD. 

With  a  Historical  Review 
By 
JOHN  BACH  McMASTER,  Ph.D..Litt.D..LLR 


Illustrated 


JohnD. Morris    and  Company 

Philadelphia 
M  d  c  c  c  c  VI 


Copyright,  1905,  by 
JOHN  D.  MORRIS  &  COMPANY 


•.  •  -  • 


•  ••••••    . 

••    ••.*••    • 

•    •     •  •   •   •• 

•. •••  •     •    • 

•  •!  Z      *    •• 

>  •     •  •      •  •«• 


PREFATORY    NOTE 


In  the  preparation  of  this  work,  it  has  been  the  pur- 
pose of  the  authors  to  write  for  the  general  reader,  not  for 
the  historical  specialist,  a  simple  narrative  of  the  rise  and 
growth  of  the  United  States  from  the  discovery  to  the  pres- 
ent time.  In  doing  so,  they  have  striven  to  avoid  unneces- 
sary and  uninteresting  details  and  have  endeavored  to  give 
prominence  only  to  those  characters  who  have  been  con- 
spicuous in  determining  our  national  destiny  and  to  those 
measures  and  events  which  may  be  said  to  constitute  the 
landmarks  of  our  progress  from  insignificant  colonies  to  our 
present  position  as  one  of  the  great  powers  of  the  world. 

In  the  limited  compass  of  a  few  hundred  pages,  it  is 
obviously  impossible  to  describe  fully  all  the  forces  and 
movements  which  have  entered  into  our  unparalleled  growth, 
and,  hence,  much  has  necessarily  been  omitted  which  would 
have  a  proper  place  in  a  more  comprehensive  historical 
treatise.  What  is  here  offered  has  been  written  with  an 
honest  effort  at  judicial  fairness  and  historical  accuracy. 
No  pretense  is  made  that  this  work  is  based  on  investi- 
gation of  primary  sources;  on  the  contrary,  it  rests  mainly 
on  the  standard  and  authoritative  treatises  of  others  who 
have  made  extended  studies  of  special  fields. 

The  500  illustrations  have  been  selected,  edited,  and 
described  by  Mr.  Otto  Reich,  the  well-known  authority  on 
all  pictures  and  portraits  of  historical  significance.  In  se- 
curing illustrations  for  great  events,  extreme  care  has  been 
taken  to  admit  only  paintings  of  the  highest  accuracy  and 
greatest  artistic  merit,  and  by  the  world's  most  celebrated 


vi  PREFATORY    NOTE 

artists.  The  result  of  the  map  investigations  is  a  series  of 
colored  and  outline  maps,  specially  drawn  and  engraved, 
unique  in  interest  and  brilliancy — maps  which  not  only  sup- 
plement the  text  but  in  many  cases  give  at  a  glance  a  better 
idea  of  events  than  volumes  of  printed  pages.  Besides 
paintings,  portraits,  and  maps,  the  illustrations  include 
some  100  facsimiles  of  rare  and  interesting  papers,  many  of 
which  have  never  before  been  included  in  any  History  of 
America. 

Grateful  acknowledgment  is  hereby  made  to  Professors 
H.  V.  Ames,  W.  L.  Fleming,  D.  Y.  Thomas  and  Mr.  O.  M. 
Dickerson  for  important  services  rendered  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  these  volumes. 


t 

i 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER    I 
ABORIGINAL    AMERICA 

SECTION  PAGE 

I.  Origin  of  the  First  Americans      .          ....  3 

II.  Indian  Characteristics  and  Religion              ...  12 

III.  Industries,  Life  and  Recreations  of  the  Indians            .  20 

IV.  Present  Condition  and  Future  Outlook       ...  29 


CHAPTER    II 

DISCOVERIES   AND   EXPLORATIONS 

I.  Precursors  of  Columbus       ......  31 

II.  The  Voyage  of  Columbus     ......  42 

III.  Spanish   Explorations            ......  64 

IV.  Explorations   of   the   French       .....  81 
V.  Early  English  Attempts  at  Colonization     ...  92 

CHAPTER    III 

THE    PLANTING    OF    THE    COLONIES 

I.  Virginia        .........  104 

II.  Maryland 125 

III.  The  Carolinas     ........  133 

IV.  Georgia        .........  143 

CHAPTER    IV 
PLANTING  OF  THE  COLONIES— CONTINUED 


I.  Plymouth  ........      148 


I  II.  Massachusetts  Bay        .  .  .  .  .  .  .156 

-  III.  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island     .....     165 


Vlll 


CONTENTS 


SECTION 

IV.  New   Hampshire   and   Maine 
V.  The  New  England  Confederation 
VI.  New  York  .... 

VII.  Delaware  and  New  Jersey 
VIII.  Pennsylvania       .... 


PAGE 

172 
173 
180 
190 
193 


CHAPTER    V 
GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  COLONIES 


CHAPTER    VI 

COLONIAL  LIFE  AND  INSTITUTIONS 

I.  Population,  Races  and  Classes 
II.  Industries,  Occupations  and  Professions 
III.  Education,  Literature  and  Printing 
IV.  Religion   and    Religious   Worship 
V.  Means  of  Travel,  Social  Customs  and  Crimes 


219 
229 
239 
248 
261 


CHAPTER    VII 
INTER-COLONIAL  WARS.     1690-1748 


I.  King  William's  War,  1690-1697 

II.  Queen  Anne's  War,  1702-1714 

III.  King  George's  War,  1744-1748 


270 
274 
279 


.    i,  CHAPTER    VIII 

FRENCH  AND  INDIAN  WAR.     1754-1763 

•li.  The  Dispute         ...... 

II.  Preliminary    Operations       .... 

III.  Resources  of  the  Contending  Belligerents 
IV.  Braddock's  Expedition  .... 

V.  Expulsion   of   the   Acadians 
VI.  English   Disasters  and  Failures 
VII.  The  Victories  of  Pitt  .  .  .  . 

Vflr.  The  Fall  of  Quebec    ..... 


287 
293 
297 
301 
307 
312 
319 
327 


CONTENTS  ix 
CHAPTER    IX 
RUPTURE   WITH   THE   MOTHER   COUNTRY.     1763-1775 

SECTION  PAGE 

I.  Causes  of  the  Dispute          ......  342 

II.  The  First  Continental  Congress          ....  377 

III.  Lexington  and  Concord        ......  382 

CHAPTER    X 

REVOLUTION    AND    INDEPENDENCE.     1775-1776 

I.  The   Second  Continental   Congress     .  391 

II.  Bunker  Hill  and  Boston      ......  395 

III.  The  Declaration  of  Independence       ....  409 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


VOLUME   ONE 


North  American  Mounds       ..... 

Aztec  Priests  Sacrificing  a  Human  Victim  to  the  Sun 
Indian  Braves  Assisting  in  the  Burial  of  a  Chief 
The  Ghost  Dance  of  the  Sioux  Indians 
The  Square  Tower,  Cliff  Palace  in  the  Mesa  Verde 
The  Cliff  Palace  ...... 

The   Belt  of  Wampum  ..... 

King  Philip  ....... 

Moki  Pueblo  Woman  Making  Pottery 

Leif   Ericson   and   His   Adventurous   Crew   of   Vikings 

the  Shores  of  Vinland  the  Good 
Conception  of  the  Shape  of  the  World,  A.D.    50 
Marco  Polo  ....... 

Prince  Henry  the  Navigator  .  .  .  . 

Vasco  da  Gama      ....... 

Vasco  da  Gama  Delivers  Letters  in  Calicut,  India 
Christopher   Columbus  ..... 

Paolo  Toscanelli  ...... 

Columbus  Before  the  Doctors  of  Salamanca 

Cell   of    Friar    Juan   de    Marchena  in   the    Cloister 

Rabida  ....... 

The  Caravels  of  Columbus  .... 

The  Landing  of  Columbus  at  Espanola 

Ferdinand  of  Aragon  and  Isabella  of  Castile 

Columbus  Returning  to  Spain  in  Chains 

Henry  VII.  of  England 

Amerigo  Vespucci 

FerKao  de   Magalhoes    (Magellan) 

Ferdinand  Cortes 

The  Emperor  Montezuma 

Cortes  in  the  Battle  of  Ottumba 


Sight 


of    La 


Xll 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


by  Marquette 


Coronado      .... 

De   Soto  in   Florida     . 

Charles  V.  ... 

Jacques  Cartier    . 

Admiral  Gaspard  de  Coligny 

Sir  John  Hawkins 

Charles  IX.,  King  of  France 

Samuel   de    Champlain 

Route  of  Samuel  de  Champlain 

Map  of  the   Countries  Traversed 

and  La  Salle 
Queen  Elizabeth 
Sir  Francis  Drake 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh 
Philip  II.  of  Spain 
Destruction  of  Spanish  Armada 
James  I. 

Captain  John  Smith 
Pocahontas 
Pocahontas,   Daughter   of   the    Powerful   Chief, 

Saves  the  Life  of  Captain  John  Smith 
Ruins  of  Jamestown      .  .  . 

Colonists  Watching  Departure  of  Vessel  for  En 
Indian  Massacre  at  Jamestown 
Charles  I. 
Henrietta  Maria  .  .  .  . 

First  Lord  Baltimore  .... 

Map  of  Maryland  in  1635      .... 

Oliver  Cromwell  .  .  . 

William  Cecil   (Second),  Lord  Baltimore 
Charles  II.  ...... 

Sir  John  Locke  ..... 

James  E.   Oglethorpe  .... 

Old  Spanish  Gates  at  Saint  Augustine,  Florida 
Monument  Erected  over  "  Plymouth  Rock  " 
The  m  Mayflower  "  in  the  Harbor  of  Plymouth 
Landing  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  at  Plymouth 
Handwriting  of   the   Pilgrim   Fathers 
An  Indian  Welcome  on  Charles  River 


Hennepin 


Powhatan 


gland 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

Governor  Winthrop  ....... 

Roger  Williams   Finds  an  Asylum   among  the   Narragansett 
Indians,  Rhode   Island        ....... 

Governor   Henry   Vane    .      .  .•  -    . 

Statue   of   John   Harvard      ....... 

John  Mason  Leading  a  Company  against  the  Indians 

Old  Norse  Tower,  Newport,  R.  I. 

John  Eliot  .  .  .  .  .  . 

James  II.       ......... 

George  Edmund  Andros  ....... 

Letter  Stating  that  Manhattan  Island  Had  Been  Purchased 

from  the  "  Wild  Men  "  for  the  Value  of  Sixty  Guilders 
Peter  Stuyvesant  .... 

Document  Signed  by  Peter  Stuyvesant 
William  Penn       ..... 
William  Penn  at  the  Age  of  Twenty-two 
Willam  Penn  Signs  a  Treaty  of  Peace  with  the  Indians  at 

Shackamaxon,    June    23,    1683 
Old  Penn  Mansion       .  . 

William  Penn's  Second  Visit  to  His  Colony 
Early  Issues  of  New  Jersey  Paper  Money 
Indented  Bill  of  an  Early  Issue  of  Paper 

Colony  of   Delaware 
Indented  Bill  of  an  Early  Issue  of  Paper  Currency  of  New 

York      ...... 

Eli   Whitney  in    1821,  Aged   Fifty-five 

Faneuil    Hall,    Boston,    Massachusetts 

William  and  Mary  College 

Cotton  Mather 

Franklin  Experiments  with  Electricity 

Thomas  Paine        .... 

A  Sunday  Morning  at  Plymouth 
Quaker  Trials       .... 

Patrick  Henry 

A  Puritan  Maiden  and  Her  Escort 

Going  to  a  Party  in  Colonial  Times 

Pine  Tree  Shilling 

American  Stage  Coach 

Louis  XIV.  .... 


in  the  Year  1699 


Currency  of  the 


Xlll 
PAGE 

159 

161 
162 
163 
167 
171 
175 
177 
179 

182 
184 
187 
191 
194 

195 
198 
199 
206 

213 

217 
222 
233 
235 
238 
243 
246 
251 
257 
260 
265 
266 
268 
269 
274 


xiv  LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Queen  Anne           .....••••  27o 

Map  of  Acadia  and  Adjacent  Islands     .          .          .          .  278 

Sir  William   Pepperell          .......  282 

Embarkation  of  New  England   Troops            ....  283 

Canada  and  Adjacent  Countries  towards  the   Close   of  the 

Seventeenth   Century              ......  289 

Celeron  de   Bienville                        i  292 

Governor  Robert  Dinwiddie  of  Virginia          .          .          .          .  295 

George  Washington  at  the  Age  of  Thirty              .           .           .  303 

Colonel   Robert   Monckton            ......  308 

Grand   Pre   Proclamation      .  .  .  .  .  .  .310 

Map  of  the  Siege  of  Louisburg      .  .  .  .  .  .316 

William  Pitt,  Earl  of  Chatham               .....  320 

Marquis   de   Montcalm            .           .           .           .           .           .           .  322 

Map  Showing  Ticonderoga,  Crown  Point,  and  the  Surround- 
ing   Country            ........  326 

Map  of  the  Siege  of  Quebec          ......  328 

Battle  of  Quebec          ........  331 

General  James  Wolfe            .......  334 

British  Colonies  and  Northern  New  France,  1750-1760          .  337 

Francis  Parkman            .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .  340 

John  Hancock       .........  347 

James  Otis              .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .  350 

George  the  Third,  King  of  Great  Britain      ....  352 

u  Give  Me  Liberty  or  Give  Me  Death  "  357 

Tax    Stamps 356 

Edmund  Burke      .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .  362 

Samuel  Adams        .........  366 

The    Boston    Massacre            .           .           .           .           .           .           .  369 

Destruction  of  the  Schooner  "  Gaspee  "                              .           .  371 

Old  South   Church,   Boston            ......  374 

Carpenters'  Hall,  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania       .           .           .  379 

"  Unite    or    Die  "           ........  381 

Paul    Revere         .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .  384 

Paul  Revere's  House,  Boston,  Mass.      .....  384 

Old   North   of   Boston            .......  385 

Minutemen    Harassing   the    British    on   Their   Retreat   from 

Lexington       .           .           .           .           .                      .           .           .  387 

General  Israel  Putnam  is  Called  to  Arms  while  Plowing  in 

His  Fields        .........  389 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS  xv 

PAGE 

Stone  Marking  Line  of  the  Minutemen          ....  392 

Battle    Monument,    Lexington      ......  393 

Concord  Bridge  and  Battle  Monument          ....  394 

Map  of  Boston,  with  Its  Environs          .....  397 

The  Assault  upon  the   American   Fortifications  on   Bunker 

Hill 399 

Bunker  Hill  Monument  and  Statue  of  Prescott,"  Cambridge, 

Massachusetts          ........  401 

Washington    Elm,    Cambridge,    Massachusetts          .          .          .  402 

Death   of   General   Montgomery,   Quebec      ....  403 

General  Richard  Montgomery       ......  405 

Colonel    Henry   Knox   Arrives    from    Ticonderoga    with    Ar- 
tillery  and  Ammunition          ......  406 

Plan  of  the  Siege  of  Charleston          .....  408 

Betsey  Ross  House,  Arch  Street,  Philadelphia      .  .  .411 

Facsimile    of    the    Original    Draft    of    the    Declaration    of 

Independence  .......        413-416 

Signing  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence        .          .          .  419 

The  Old  "  Liberty  Bell/'  Independence  Hall,  Philadelphia  421 


Copynjk 


y~C^^T^y       W^^VZ 


INTRODUCTION 

THE  history  of  the  United  States  covers  only  three 
hundred  years,  a  brief  space  even  in  the  short  period 
for  which  we  possess  written  records  of  man's  deeds 
and  movements  on  earth.  But  the  importance  of  a  coun- 
try's history  is  not  to  be  measured  merely  by  length  of  days. 
The  place  which  a  nation  occupies  in  the  world,  the  in- 
fluence which  it  exercises  in  the  present,  and  the  future  of 
which  it  gives  promise,  make  a  right  understanding  of  its 
origin  and  meaning  as  important  as  that  of  any  gift  which 
can  be  bestowed  by  the  slow  passing  of  the  centuries.  The 
position  of  the  United  States  to-day  in  world  politics,  the 
economic  effect  of  the  vast  industrial  and  commercial  system 
built  up  by  the  American  people,  as  well  as  the  moral,  in- 
tellectual and  material  influence  which  they  exert,  make  the 
country's  history  of  the  utmost  importance,  especially  in  con- 
nection with  the  study  of  the  larger  subject  of  Western  civili- 
zation, of  which  America  is  the  latest  development.  At  the 
present  moment,  when  in  a  single  year  we  are  promised  half- 
a-dozen  elaborate  and  general  histories  of  the  United  States, 
the  statement  just  made  reads  like  a  rather  tiresome  truism 
which  it  is  needless  to  repeat.  But  it  is  well  to  remember 
that  this  widespread  interest  in  American  history  is  of  very 
recent  growth,  and  it  therefore  may  not  be  amiss,  when  add- 
ing another  work  to  the  already  long  list,  briefly  to  review  the 
past  and  note  the  process  by  which  the  present  condition, 
wherein  there  is  to  be  found  far  more  than  a  merely  literary 
interest,  has  been  reached. 

A  little  more  than  thirty  years  ago  it  was  possible  for  a 

xvii 


xvm 


INTRODUCTION 


boy  to  enter  Harvard  College  and  after  four  years  of  study 
graduate  with  the  highest  honors  without  knowing  of  the 
existence  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  or  when  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  was  framed.  What  was 
true  of  Harvard  was  true  of  other  universities  and  colleges. 
American  history,  although  occasionally  taught,  was  not  in- 
cluded in  the  scheme  of  the  higher  education.  Boys  enter- 
ing college  were  required  to  know  something  of  the  "  glory 
that  was  Greece  and  the  grandeur  that  was  Rome,"  but  they 
were  permitted  to  remain  in  complete  ignorance  of  all  that  re- 
lated to  the  history  of  their  own  country.  During  the  four 
years  of  the  college  course  they  had  a  modest  opportunity 
to  study  the  history  of  England  and  Europe,  but  none  to 
learn  aught  of  the  United  States.  This  condition  of  educa- 
tion, which  seems  so  melancholy  now,  was  really  the  result  of 
a  general  attitude  of  mind  then  passing  away,  but  which  had 
once  been  predominant.  The  usual  opinion  during  the  first 
half  of  the  nineteenth  century  seems  to  have  been  that  there 
was  no  American  history  worth  telling,  apart  from  the  adven- 
tures of  the  earliest  settlers  and  the  events  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, which  were  both  connected  so  closely  with  the  history 
of  Europe  that  they  might  fairly  be  deemed  of  some  impor- 
tance. Among  the  most  highly  educated  portion  of  the  com- 
munity the  ignorance  was,  comparatively  speaking,  densest, 
and  for  the  very  obvious  reason  that  the  history  of  democ- 
racy, a  new  thing  then  in  the  world,  was  entirely  different  in 
its  attributes  and  conditions  from  the  history  with  which 
everybody  had  been  familiar  during  many  centuries.  To 
conceive  of  a  history  destitute  of  kings  and  nobles  and  aris- 
tocratic traditions,  unillumined  by  the  splendor  of  a  court, 
without  the  lights  and  shades  which  the  contrast  of  ranks 
alone  can  give,  was  very  difficult,  because  it  involved  a  new 
idea.  It  always  takes  time  for  people  to  grasp  the  proposi- 
tion that  because  a  thing  is  different  from  that  to  which  they 


INTRODUCTION  xix 

have  been  accustomed  it  is  not  necessarily  inferior.  Habit 
and  prescription,  although  in  their  very  nature  never  fully 
realized  nor  perfectly  understood,  are  forces  of  enormous 
power  among  men  and  nations. 

American  history  had  also  to  contend  with  feminine  in- 
difference, and  women  influence  largely  the  success  of  his- 
toric writings,  as  they  do  that  of  other  books.  Macaulay 
knew  precisely  the  test  of  popularity  and  wide  circulation 
when  he  said  that  he  wanted  his  history  to  take  the  place  of 
the  novel  on  every  young  lady's  table.  To  suppose,  there- 
fore, that  women  would  easily  or  at  once  take  interest  in  the 
seemingly  stern,  gray  story  of  state  building  and  war,  of 
law-making  and  constitutions,  stripped,  as  it  was  in  Amer- 
ica, of  all  the  glitter  and  romance  and  refinement  which  clung 
about  the  history  of  monarchies  and  empires  to  which  they 
had  always  been  accustomed,  would  have  been  to  expect  too 
much.  "  Fishers,  and  choppers  and  ploughmen,"  constitut- 
ing a  state  in  Emerson's  noble  verse,  were  very  fine,  but  they 
seemed  unlikely  to  have  a  history  as  interesting  or  leave 
memoirs  as  entertaining  as  those  of  the  Courts  of  St.  James 
or  of  Versailles,  which  educated  Americans  were  wont  to  read. 
The  truth  was  that  the  higher  education  to  which  I  have  al- 
luded was  defective  in  regard  to  the  history  of  the  United 
States  simply  because  that  history  during  the  first  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century  had  neither  audience  nor  demand  either 
at  home  or  abroad.  Here  and  there  a  state  historical  so- 
ciety, local  antiquarians  or  the  descendants  of  some  of  the 
great  men  who  fought  in  the  Revolution  and  made  the  Con- 
stitution, collected  material,  gathered  traditions  or  edited  let- 
ters and  memoirs,  but  these  efforts  were  commonly  regarded 
as  amiable  idiosyncrasies,  quite  harmless  but  not  designed 
for  general  use.  Nothing  indeed  illustrates  better  this  at- 
titude of  mind  toward  American  history  at  that  time  than 
that  Prescott  and  Motley  devoted  their  brilliant  talents  to 


xx  INTRODUCTION 

Spain  and  Holland  at  a  period  which  had  no  connection,  or 
at  best  a  very  slight  one,  with  the  vast  region  which  was  one 
day  to  be  the  United  States.  The  fact  was  that  educated 
people  did  not  think,  as  a  rule,  that  the  United  States  had 
any  history  worth  consideration,  just  as  they  likewise  thought 
that  while  we  undoubtedly  had  public  men  they  were  not  to 
be  seriously  considered  as  statesmen  in  the  sense  of  European 
ministers  or  English  Parliamentary  leaders.  They  were 
unable  to  realize  that  the  organization  of  a  nation  and  the 
development  of  a  new  country  by  a  great  democracy  de- 
manded power,  ability  and  statesmanship  of  a  very  high 
and  strong  variety.  It  was  all  different,  it  was  new,  and  it 
was  not  therefore  really  important  tried  by  the  fashions  of 
the  Old  World.  The  colonial  habit  of  mind  died  hard  in 
regard  to  American  history,  as  it  did  in  many  other  ways. 

Yet  even  then  there  were  men  who  saw  what  a  field  was 
open  to  the  historian  in  the  story  of  the  United  States  and  of 
the  colonies  out  of  which  the  United  States  had  been  devel- 
oped. Richard  Hildreth,  working  only  on  public  docu- 
ments, newspapers,  printed  books  and  pamphlets  and  Con- 
gressional debates,  produced  his  history  of  the  United  States 
from  the  earliest  settlements  down  to  his  own  time.  The 
volumes  are  dry,  without  literary  quality  or  charm,  almost  un- 
readable indeed  as  literature,  and  yet  Hildreth's  work,  con- 
sidering his  material,  is  very  accurate  and  remains  as  a  com- 
prehensive book  of  reference  more  valuable  than  many  which 
have  succeeded  it.  Mr.  Bancroft  attained  to  much  wider 
success  and  to  greater  fame.  He  had  the  advantage  of  an 
unoccupied  field  to  cultivate  and  a  smaller  world  to  appeal 
to,  so  that  his  labors  achieved  a  success  impossible  now  to 
much  better  work.  He  brought  to  this  task  the  best  educa- 
tion and  training  which  the  universities  of  the  United  States 
and  Germany  could  afford,  a  keen  mind,  vigorous  abilities, 
an  intense  love  of  country  and  an  unwearied  industry.     But 


INTRODUCTION  xxi 

withal  his  history  is  diffuse ;  there  is  an  inordinate  space  given 
to  the  affairs  of  contemporary  Europe,  and  in  the  earliest 
edition  there  was  some  rather  turgid  writing  in  praise  of  the 
principles  of  democracy  and  the  rights  of  man,  as  expounded 
by  democracy,  and  the  rights  of  man,  as  expounded  by 
Rousseau  and  Jefferson.  But  Mr.  JBancrof t  rendered, 
nevertheless,  an  incalculable  service  to  American  history 
by  the  vast  mass  of  original  matter  which  he  brought 
to  light  and  use  and  by  the  manner  in  which  he  gave  unity 
and  co-ordination  to  the  history  of  the  colonies.  So  wide 
were  his  researches  and  so  extensive  was  his  material  that 
even  his  long  and  industrious  life  did  not  enable  him  to  get 
beyond  the  period  of  the  Confederation.  To  the  same  time 
we  owe  Mr.  Palfrey's  history  of  New  England,  a  work  of 
the  highest  and  most  admirable  scholarship,  of  the  best  type 
of  historical  work,  but  somewhat  dry  in  narration  and  neces- 
sarily covering  only  one  group  of  the  colonies  which  were  to 
become  the  future  United  States. 

In  Francis  Parkman,  of  a  later  generation  than  Ban- 
croft or  Palfrey,  American  literature  found  its  first  really 
great  historian,  one  fairly  entitled  to  a  place  in  the  small 
group  where  Thucydides,  Tacitus,  and  Gibbon  stand  apart 
as  the  great  and  hitherto  unrivaled  exemplars.  Mr.  Park- 
man  not  only  had  untiring  industry  and  the  capacity  for 
sifting  evidence  and  marshaling  facts  drawn  in  many  cases 
from  the  dark  corners  of  forgotten  manuscripts,  but  he 
possessed  also  the  power  of  compression,  the  reserved  but 
vigorous  style,  and  above  all  the  imagination,  which  enabled 
him  to  make  history  live  and  have  a  meaning,  without  which 
life  and  meaning  it  will  surely  die  and  be  buried  among  in- 
coherent annals  and  scientific  catalogues  of  facts.  In  a 
series  of  volumes  he  gradually  drew  a  noble  picture  of  the 
mighty  struggle  of  races  which  ended  in  giving  North 
America  to  the  English-speaking  people.  The  drama  spread 


XX11 


INTRODUCTION 


over  a  continent,  the  actors  who  flitted  across  the  vast  stage 
were  Indians  and  Jesuits,  courtiers  of  Louis  XIV.,  and  sober 
Puritans  of  New  England,  French  adventurers  and  sturdy 
Dutch  traders  from  the  Mohawk  and  the  Hudson,  all  with 
the  wilderness  as  a  background  and  a  future  beyond  imagi- 
nation as  the  prize  for  which  they  blindly  strove.  Parkman 
made  the  world  comprehend  not  only  that  American  his- 
tory was  important,  but  that  if  it  did  not  have  the  precise 
kind  of  picturesqueness  to  which  that  of  Europe  had  accus- 
tomed us,  it  had  a  picturesqueness  of  its  own,  a  light  and 
color  and  a  dramatic  force  not  less  impressive  because  they 
differed  in  kind  from  what  had  gone  before. 

Parkman  began  his  work  under  the  old  conditions  of 
indifference  and  inattention.  When  he  brought  his  brilliant 
volumes  to  an  end  those  conditions  had  utterly  and  entirely 
changed.  The  strong  departments  of  American  History 
which  have  grown  up  at  some  of  our  leading  universities 
in  the  last  thirty  years  of  the  century  is  merely  a  sign  of  the 
complete  alteration  in  opinion  and  feeling  which  had  taken 
place  not  only  in  the  universities  and  in  the  schools,  but  in 
the  public  mind  after  the  close  of  the  Civil  War.  Nothing 
in  our  earlier  days,  for  example,  showed  more  conclusively 
the  national  indifference  to  the  past  than  the  reckless  de- 
struction of  landmarks  and  historic  buildings.  Now  every 
effort  is  made  to  preserve  all  that  remains  which  gives  to 
past  events  a  local  habitation.  Americans  have  learned,  too 
late  unfortunately  in  many  instances,  that  the  buildings  and 
streets,  the  forests  and  the  fields,  which  have  been  the  scenes 
of  memorable  events,  have  not  only  inestimable  worth  his- 
torically and  sentimentally,  but  that  they  are  also  pecuniarily 
valuable,  to  take  a  highly  practical  view,  to  any  community 
lucky  enough  to  possess  them. 

In  the  same  way  books  ranging  from  the  most  extensive 
histories  to  antiquarian  monographs,  rich  in  minute  learning 


INTRODUCTION  xxiii 

upon  some  single  incident,  have  multiplied  almost  beyond  be- 
lief. Biographies,  compilations  of  essays  by  specialists, 
general  histories  and  manuals  of  all  sorts  have  been  dupli- 
cated and  reduplicated  until  we  seem  in  danger  almost  of 
losing  sight  of  the  city  on  account  of  the  number  of  houses 
which  cut  off  our  view.  The  whole  of  our  history,  from  the 
first  voyage  of  Columbus  to  the  last  administration  at  Wash- 
ington, has  been  examined  and  written  about  in  some  fash- 
ion. In  the  old  days  the  period  between  the  landings  at  Ply- 
mouth and  Jamestown  and  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
and  that  which  stretched  forward  from  the  surrender  at 
Yorktown  might  have  been  labeled,  like  portions  of  the  maps 
so  familiar  a  generation  ago,  the  "  Great  American  Desert." 
And  people  dwelt  contented  with  their  "  Desert "  and  their 
ignorance.  But  the  settlements  have  spread,  and  as  they 
spread  have  subdued  and  conquered.  "  The  Great  Ameri- 
can Desert  "  is  no  more;  irrigation  threatens  its  last  strong- 
hold, and  the  unopened  tracts  of  the  history  of  the  United 
States  have  all  been  roamed  over  and  explored.  Most  of  the 
exploration  and  examination  has  resulted  merely  in  what  is 
so  dear  to  the  purely  scientific  historian,  vast  masses  of 
catalogued  facts  where  literature  is  excluded,  and  one  fact 
is  just  as  good  and  important  as  any  other,  simply  because  it 
is  a  fact.  These  heaps  of  information,  some  of  it  value- 
less, much  of  it  undigested,  still  only  partly  assorted,  are  the 
necessary  conditions  for  real  history  written  by  one  capable 
and  understanding  man  as  distinct  from  the  huge  aggrega- 
tions of  special  articles,  immensely  valuable  as  books  of  refer- 
ence, but  having  the  same  relation  to  history  in  its  highest 
sense  that  the  English  dictionary  bears  to  the  plays  of 
.Shakespeare  or  the  verse  of  Milton.  Out  of  this  mass  of 
material  thus  fervently  and  indiscriminately  collected  in  the 
last  forty  years  have  come  two  histories  of  the  highest  type  in 
scholarship,    research   and   original   thought— -Mr,    Henry 


XXIV 


INTRODUCTION 


Adams's  "  History  of  the  United  States  during  the  Admin- 
istrations of  Jefferson  and  Madison,"  and  that  of  Mr. 
James  Ford  Rhodes  covering  the  period  subsequent  to  the 
Compromise  of  1850.  In  addition  to  these  we  have  many 
excellent  biographies  and  monographs,  as  well  as  some 
admirable  presentations  and  brilliant  pictures  of  certain 
epochs  and  movements,  like  those  of  Mr.  Fiske  and  Mr. 
McMaster,  which  are  read  by  everyone  and  which  are  even 
more  necessary  than  the  highly  scientific  catalogues,  stripped 
according  to  rule  of  all  beauty  of  style  and  all  human  inter- 
est, and  which  are  read  by  no  one.  To  have  brought  so  much 
pure  gold  as  this  out  of  the  incalculable  mass  of  "  huddling 
silver  little  worth  "  is  highly  creditable  to  American  letters 
and  American  history.  It  is  an  excellent  record,  not  to  be 
bettered  elsewhere  in  the  same  period  either  in  form  or  in 
the  net  contribution  to  human  knowledge,  and  to  the  com- 
prehension of  the  meaning  of  man  upon  earth. 

Historians  and  learned  societies,  antiquarians  and  biog- 
raphers, however,  cannot  create  history  unless  the  material 
for  it  exists,  nor  can  they  by  their  efforts  alone  develop 
from  nothing  a  real  interest  in  it  among  the  people  at  large. 
The  popular  feeling  which  arouses  the  interest  and  mani- 
fests itself,  not  merely  in  the  sale  of  histories  and  biographies, 
but  by  the  enthusiasm  shown  in  the  celebration  of  local  an- 
niversaries, in  numberless  addresses,  usually  forgotten  at 
once,  except  in  the  town  or  village  commemorated,  in  the 
passion  for  genealogies  and  family  histories,  in  the  preserva- 
tion and  erection  of  monuments,  springs  from  causes  deep 
down  among  the  people  themselves.  This  activity  and  this 
earnestness  in  all  things  pertaining  to  the  past  are  sound  and 
wholesome,  and  also  full  of  meaning.  It  is  a  commonplace 
to  say  that  a  people  which  cares  nothing  for  its  past  has  no 
present  and  deserves  no  future.  But  it  is  not  quite  so  ob- 
vious that  widespread  interest  in  history  is  a  proof  of  national 


INTRODUCTION  xxv 

consciousness  and  of  the  abiding  sense  that  a  nation  has  come 
to  its  place  in  the  world. 

While  we  looked  to  Europe  for  all  our  inspiration  in  art 
and  letters,  in  thought  and  in  politics,  it  was  not  to  be  ex- 
pected that  we  should  consider  our  own  doings  of  much 
consequence  or  worthy  of  a  serious  place  in  history.  Nor 
were  those  doings  in  themselves  of  much  importance,  for 
colonies  are  mere  appendages,  and  what  chiefly  concerns 
mankind  is  the  tree,  not  the  dependent  shoots  which  push  up 
from  spreading  roots.  The  history  of  the  American  colonies 
intrinsically  was  not  very  important  nor,  apart  from  a  cer- 
tain air  of  adventure  and  rude  picturesqueness,  very  gener- 
ally interesting.  But  when  the  colonies  became  an  inde- 
pendent state  the  case  altered  at  once.  It  then  became  highly 
important  to  know  and  understand  the  origin  and  the  past  of 
the  new  nation  in  all  its  details.  The  ways  of  life,  the  habits 
and  customs,  of  the  tribes  which  wandered  in  the  forests  of 
Scandinavia  and  Germany  are  not  in  themselves  very  valu- 
able, and  are  certainly  not  entertaining.  But  research  ex- 
hausts itself,  and  wisely,  too,  in  the  effort  to  find  the  minutest 
facts  which  shall  throw  light  upon  the  origin  and  history 
of  the  people  from  whom  have  come  not  only  the  dominant 
races  of  Western  Europe,  but  the  Western  civilization  which 
has  crossed  oceans  and  subjugated  continents.  To  take 
another  example,  the  island  of  Jamaica,  now  and  always  a 
dependent  colony,  is  historically  negligible,  but  the  little  state 
of  Rhode  Island  deserves  the  careful  attention  of  the  his- 
torian because  of  her  part  and  influence  in  founding,  making 
and  guiding  a  nation. 

Many  years  passed  before  we  emerged  wholly  from  the 
colonial  condition.  Long  after  we  had  become  independent 
politically,  the  old  colonial  habits  of  thought,  as  strong  as 
they  were  impalpable,  clung  fast  about  us.  Only  step  by 
step  did  we  shake  off  the  provincial  spirit  and  rid  ourselves 


xxvi  INTRODUCTION 

of  the  bated  breath  of  the  colonist.  We  did  not  come  to  a 
full  national  consciousness  until  we  had  passed  through  the 
awful  trial  of  the  Civil  War.  Then  we  realized  what  we 
were,  and  the  trembling  deference  to  foreign  opinion,  the 
sensitive  outcry  against  foreign  criticism,  as  well  as  the  un- 
easy self-assertion  and  boasting  which  accompanied  them, 
fell  from  us  as  the  burden  fell  from  the  shoulders  of  Chris- 
tian. There  was  still  much  to  do,  but  the  old  colonial  habit 
of  mind  was  shattered  beyond  recovery.  It  lingered  on 
here  and  there ;  it  dies  hard,  but  it  is  dying,  and  now  is  nearly 
dead. 

With  the  coming  of  a  true  national  consciousness  came 
the  interest  in  the  past  and  in  history.     It  was  apparent  that 
the  United  States  was  one  of  the  most  considerable  facts  of 
the  age  when  its  consolidation  had  once  been  effected  and  all 
peril  of  dissolution  had  departed  with  the  crushing  out  of  the 
powers  which  aimed  at  separation.     Anything  which  helped 
to  explain  this  great  fact  became,  therefore,  of  intense  in- 
terest.    As  the  years  passed  on  the  fact  has  grown  larger. 
In  due  time  a  not  very  serious  war  revealed  the  fact  to  the 
world,  and  it  appeared  that  this  fact  known  as  the  United 
States  had,  and  was  destined  to  have,  a  strong  and  increasing 
influence  upon  all  the  other  facts  generally  spoken  of  as 
the  nations  of  the  earth.     Thus  did  it  become  more  than  ever 
obvious  that  the  explanation  of  the  United  States  to  be 
found  in  the  history  of  the  past  four  centuries  was  worthy 
of  the  best  efforts  of  the  historian.     The  pride  in  what  the 
country  is  spurs  men  on  to  pride  in  all  who  shared  in  making 
the  nation.     From  the  abortive  attempts  of  the  earliest  ad- 
venturers, from  the  feeble  settlements  clinging  to  the  At- 
lantic seaboard,  through  the  confused  and  seemingly  petty 
history  of  the  colonies,  and  of  the  scattered  people  and  small 
states  struggling  out  of  revolution  and  dissension  to  a  larger 
national  life,  onward,  to  those  who  saved  the  Union  from  dis- 


INTRODUCTION  xxvii 

integration,  and  still  on  to  those  who  have  carried  her  power 
forward  to  the  Pacific,  and  from  first  to  last  made  a  great 
nation  where  there  was  none  before,  all  alike  have  come  to 
possess  deep  meaning  and  importance.  Hence  the  rise  of 
American  history,  and,  what  is  more  important,  of  the 
general  interest  in  that  history,  which  may  be  trusted  to 
separate  the  wheat  from  the  chaff,  and  give  us  not  only 
knowledge,  but  also  something  worthy  to  take  a  place  in 
literature  by  the  manner  in  which  the  knowledge  is  communi- 
cated to  men. 

Indeed,  signs  are  not  wanting  that  the  inhabitants  of 
England  and  Europe  are  beginning  to  think  that  the  history 
of  a  people  who  have  made  a  great  and  powerful  nation  to 
whom  the  future  in  large  measure  belongs  is  worthy  of  con- 
sideration, and  that  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  know  something 
of  the  men  who  have  led  and  guided  that  people  in  the  past, 
and  who  lead  and  guide  them  now.  There  is  evident,  even 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  a  dawning  idea  that  this 
knowledge  may  be  as  useful  and  even  as  illuminating  as  to 
trace  the  fortunes  of  some  petty  and  wholly  effaced  Italian 
city  despot  or  the  personal  intrigues  of  forgotten  courtiers. 


• 


THE  HISTORY  OF 
THE    UNITED    STATES 


THE  HISTORY  OF 

THE  UNITED  STATES 

Chapter    I 

ABORIGINAL  AMERICA 

I 

ORIGIN    OF    THE    FIRST    AMERICANS 

"  Many   an   aeon  moulded   earth  before   her  highest  man  was   born,"— 

Tennyson. 

THE  origin  of  the  race  which  first  peopled  America 
is  obscure  in  the  darkness  of  prehistoric  times,  that 
is,  prehistoric  in  America.  The  earliest  man  every- 
where was  a  savage  and  has  left  few  records  of  his  life 
save  in  the  implements  of  his  daily  use.  His  period  is 
commonly  designated  as  the  Palaeolithic  (Unground  Stone) 
Age,  and  that  of  his  successors,  the  Neolithic  (Ground 
Stone) .  The  resemblance  in  the  relics  of  all  prehistoric  races 
is  very  strong;  indeed,  the  resemblance  between  the  relics 
of  the  remotest  tribes  and  the  races  of  to-day  is  so  striking 
that  an  expert  is  sometimes  puzzled  to  distinguish  an  arrow; 
head  of  a  modern  Indian  from  one  used  by  prehistoric  man. 
In  spite  of  this,  however,  Humboldt  holds  that  the  monument 
methods  of  computing  time,  systems  of  cosmogony,  and 
many  myths  of  America  offer  analogies  with  the  ideas  of 
eastern  Asia  too  strong  to  admit  of  any  explanation  save 
that  of  an  ancient  connection.    The  natives  of  the  extreme 


4  THE    UNITED    STATES 

northwestern  part  of  North  America  undoubtedly  belong  to 
the  same  family  as  the  natives  of  northeastern  Asia.  For 
these  and  other  reasons.  Hubert  Howe  Bancroft,1  who  has 
made  an  extended  study  of  the  Indians  of  the  Pacific  coast, 
inclines  to  the  view  that  America  was  peopled  from  Asia. 
He  acknowledges,  however,  that  the  migration  may  have 
been  in  the  opposite  direction,  Asia  being  peopled  by  a  race 
autocthonous  in  America.2 

Other  theories  have  been  advanced  of  racial  connection, 
such  as  that  the  aboriginals  of  America  were  of  Celtic, 
Egyptian,  Phoenician,  or  even  Jewish  origin.  But  all  of 
these  belong  to  the  realm  of  wild  speculation  or  pure  myth 
along  with  the  lost  Atlantis,  over  which  some  of  them  are 
reputed  to  have  made  the  migration.  The  only  conservative 
and  defensible  position  is  one  of  frank  ignorance.  The 
thorough  ethnological  studies  now  being  undertaken  may 
in  the  future  throw  light  on  the  question,  but  it  is  extremely 
doubtful  whether  the  results  will  be  convincing.3 

i  Bancroft,  "  Native  Races  of  the  Pacific  States,"  vol.  i.  pp.  16-19. 

2  A  notable  effort  has  recently  been  made  under  the  auspices  of  Morris  K. 
Jesup,  President  of  the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History,  to  settle  more 
definitely  the  question  of  the  origin  of  the  American  Indians.  Mr.  Jesup,  in 
consultation  with  a  number  of  eminent  anthropologists,  came  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  the  only  satisfactory  way  to  discover  if  there  were  any  evidences 
of  contact  between  the  early  settlers  of  America  and  Asia  was  to  make  a 
thorough  investigation  of  the  oldest  remaining  tribes  of  both  countries.  With 
this  end  in  view  the  "Jesup  North  American  Expedition  of  the  American 
Museum  of  Natural  History"  was  organized  in  1897,  and  for  seven  years  it 
has  studied  the  characteristics,  customs,  traditions,  and  languages  of  the  Indian 
tribes  in  America,  from  the  Columbia  River  to  Northern  Alaska,  and  in  Asia 
as  far  south  as  the  line  of  civilization.  By  studying  how  long  the  tribes  had 
been  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  what  changes  had  taken  place  in  the  tribal  physical 
characteristics,  and  what  relation  the  various  tribes  bore  to  one  another,  it  was 
possible  to  trace  the  relationship  between  the  Asiatic  and  American  tribes,  and 
probably  the  cause  of  emigration  in  prehistoric  times.  The  results  of  the 
expedition  point  to  the  existence  of  intimate  relationship  between  the  Asiatic 
and  American  Indians,  and  the  conclusion  of  the  members  of  the  expedition 
is  that  the  Indian  originated  in  America  and  spread  into  Asia. 

sFarrand,  "Basis  of  American  History,"  p.  87. 


ABORIGINAL     AMERICA  5 

The  theory  of  autocthonic  origin  is  deserving  of  more 
respect.  Certain  fossil  remains  have  been  discovered  which 
seem  to  give  it  at  least  a  shadow  of  support.  After  the 
earthquakes  of  1811-1812  a  fragment  of  a  human  bone  was 
found  in  a  fissure  near  Natchez,  Mississippi,  along  with  the 
bones  of  the  mastodon  and  other  extinct  animals.  In  1852 
a  skeleton  was  dug  up  in  New  Orleans  beneath  four  suc- 
cessive buried  forests  of  cypress.4  Similar  discoveries  have 
been  made  in  the  shafts  of  mines  in  California,  but  the  au- 
thenticity of  none  of  these  is  beyond  dispute.  But  if  this  is 
the  oldest  continent,  it  certainly  is  not  unreasonable  to  sup- 
pose that  man  first  made  his  appearance  here.  Aside  from  the 
evidence  just  mentioned,  there  is  abundant  proof  that  the 
continent  has  been  inhabited  a  long  time,  probably  several 
thousand  years. 

Back  of  the  Indians  of  historic  times  were  the  Mound 
Builders.  The  theory  that  they  were  a  distinct  race  which  dis- 
appeared before  the  Indian  ever  came,  or  were  driven  out  by 
him,  is  no  longer  regarded  as  tenable.  The  Indian  is  now 
regarded  as  the  descendant  of  the  Mound  Builders — degen- 
erate, perhaps,  in  some  respects.5  The  mounds,  which  consti- 
tute the  only  monuments  of  the  existence  of  this  race,  are 
scattered  throughout  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  valleys  and  are 
of  varying  size  and  shape.  The  purpose  of  some  of  them 
is  beyond  conjecture;  others  have  been  designated  as  mounds 
of  observation,  worship,  or  sepulture.  In  shape  they  are  of 
four  distinct  classes,  conical,  elongate,  pyramidal,  and  effigy. 
The  first  were  used  for  sepulture.  The  purpose  of  the 
second,  which  consist  of  walls  about  four  feet  high,  ten  to 
twenty  broad,  and  fifty  to  nine  hundred  long,  is  unknown. 
The    pyramidal    probably   were    used    for    worship,    since 

*  Winsor,  "  The  Antiquity  of  Man  in  America  "  in  Winsor's  "  Narrative  and 
Critical  History,"  vol.  i.  p.  389 ;  also  Haynes,  "  Prehistoric  Archaeology  of 
North  America,"  ch.  vi.  vol.  i. 

^Farrand,  "Basis  of  American  History,"  p.  73, 


6  THE    UNITED    STATES 

mounds  of  similar  construction  have  been  found  in  Mexico 
with  temples  on  them.  The  "  Serpent  Mound  "  in  Adams 
County,  Ohio,  is  a  good  specimen  of  the  last  class.  Some 
occur  in  lowlands,  indicating  that  they  probably  were  used 
for  refuge  from  high  water.  The  defensive  character  of 
others  is  apparent,  such  as  the  walls  of  earth  and  stone  con- 
structed in  such  a  manner  as  to  reveal  evidence  of  no  little 
military  skill. 

The  twenty  miles  of  embankment  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Scioto  may  have  belonged  to  this  class,  but  other  similar 
works  are  difficult  to  explain.  Sometimes  graded  roads  lead 
from  terrace  to  terrace,  possibly  to  secure  access  to  streams ; 
others  "begin  nowhere  and  lead  nowhere."  In  places  there 
are  perfect  squares,  in  others,  perfect  circles,  some  of  them  a 
mile  in  circuit.  In  different  parts  of  Ohio  is  found  the 
curious  arrangement  of  a  square  with  two  circles.  In  all 
cases  the  dimensions  are  the  same,  each  side  of  the  square 
measuring  one  thousand  and  eighty  feet  and  the  circles 
seventeen  hundred  and  eight  hundred  feet  in  circumference. 
Sometimes  moats  are  found  inside  these  walls.  Rings  of 
from  five  to  fifteen  feet  in  diameter  have  been  denominated 
"  hut  rings."  The  square  house  site  may  be  found  in  Ar- 
kansas. In  Michigan  and  Wisconsin  appear  mounds  from 
four  to  six  feet  high,  which  evidently  were  intended  to  repre- 
sent animals  (the  elephant  for  one),  birds,  fishes  and  imple- 
ments. So-called  "  garden  mounds,"  which  are  but  six  or 
eight  inches  high,  are  found  in  Michigan  and  Wisconsin. 

Excavations  have  brought  to  light  many  implements  of 
war  and  the  chase,  fine  specimens  of  pottery  and  other  im- 
plements of  domestic  life.  Pipes  may  be  found  in  one,  arrow- 
heads in  another  and  copper  tools  in  a  third.  The  last  named 
relics  indicate  that  they  were  approaching  the  Metal  Age, 
though  they  still  belonged  to  the  Stone  Age.  There  is  no  evi- 
dence that  metals  were  ever  smelted  above  Mexico.     In  the 


Copyright,  1905,  by  John  D.  Morris  &  Company 

North   American   Mounds 
1— Avondale  Mound,  Washington  County,  Mississippi.     2— De  Soto  Mound, 
Washington  County,  Arkansas.     3— Small  Mound,  from  Le  Moyne's 
"  B  re  vis   Nar  ratio  " 


ABORIGINAL     AMERICA  9 

north  it  was  simply  beaten  out,  but  a  great  deal  was  done  in 
this  way.  A  mass  of  copper  weighing  six  tons,  raised  upon  a 
scaffold  five  feet  high,  probably  in  preparation  for  removal, 
was  found  in  a  Minnesota  mine  eighteen  feet  below  the 
surface.  So  long  ago  was  the  mining  done  that  even  the 
tradition  of  it  was  lost  among  the  Indians  whom  the  Euro- 
peans found  there.6 

The  number  and  extent  of  the  mounds  is  conclusive 
proof  that  the  people  who  made  them  were  numerous  and 
industrious.  Did  they  abandon  them  and  move  to  the  far 
southwest,  or  were  they  driven  out  by  a  hostile  foe,  or  did 
they  remain  there  and  degenerate  into  the  savages  of  historic 
times?  One  does  not  like  to  take  the  last  alternative,  yet  he 
can  adduce  no  conclusive  proof  for  either  of  the  others. 
This  much  is  certain,  however,  that  the  culture  of  the  Mound 
Builders  was  improved  upon  in  Mexico,  Central  and  South 
America.7 

An  account  of  the  Indians  of  Mexico  does  not  properly 
belong  to  a  history  of  the  United  States,  but  the  temptation 
to  say  a  word  concerning  them  as  affording  a  high  type 
of  Indian  civilization  is  irresistible.  However,  not  all  the 
Indians  of  Mexico  were  of  this  kind;  all  types  were  found 
there,  from  the  beastly  Yuman  stock  of  Lower  California 
to  the  Aztecs  of  the  plateau.  According  to  tradition  the 
best  Mexican  stock  had  migrated  from  the  north.  Of  these 
the  Aztecs  may  be  taken  as  a  type,  though  the  Tarascos  and 
Tapotecs  were  not  far  behind  them,  and  the  Mayas  were, 
in  some  respects,  their  superiors. 

The  traditional  history  of  the  Aztecs,  who  centered 

eFarrand,  "Basis  of  American  History,"  ch.  v. 

7  The  most  valuable  literature  on  the  subject  of  the  Indian  mounds  is  to 
be  found  in  the  "Annual  Reports"  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution.  Hardly  a 
year  has  passed  since  1861  but  these  "  Reports  "  have  had  in  them  contributions 
on  the  subject.  The  "  Annual  Reports  of  the  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Ethnology  "  like- 
wise frequently  contain  valuable  papers  on  the  Indian  races  and  related  subjects. 


10  THE    UNITED    STATES 

about  the  City  of  Mexico  dates  back  to  the  fifth  century. 
Some  stone  implements  were  still  used  by  them,  but  they 
were,  nevertheless,  in  the  metal-agricultural  age.  They 
reckoned  descent  in  the  male  line,  though  land  was  still 
held  in  common  and  marriage  was  regulated  by  gentile  law. 
The  achievements  in  architecture  and  public  works  were 
really  marvelous,  and  revealed  evidence  of  great  engineer- 
ing skill.  Their  cities  were  adorned  with  temples,  but 
they  practiced  human  sacrifice  in  a  most  revolting  manner. 
Schools  were  maintained  where  the  boys  were  taught  history, 
religion  and  military  science,  while  the  girls  learned  domestic 
science  and  textile  work.  Much  attention  was  given  to 
the  moral  training  of  both  sexes — the  teachers  were  priests 
and  priestesses — but  one  can  not  commend  the  basis 
of  instruction,  which  was  terror,  not  respect  or  love.  Their 
writing  was  hieroglyphic,  but  far  inferior  to  that  of  the 
Egyptians.  They  had  preserved  a  great  number  of  manu- 
scripts, but  the  Mexicans  destroyed  the  most  of  them.8  In 
Central  and  South  America  were  several  tribes  of  equal,  if 
not  higher,  attainments,  especially  the  Incas  in  Peru.  The 
civilization  of  the  Incas,  in  fact,  represented  the  highest  de- 
velopment among  the  native  races  of  *America.9 

The  more  exact  method  of  classifying  the  Indians  is 
by  their  physical  and  linguistic  characteristics.  Most  writers, 
however,  following  the  lines  of  least  resistance,  classify  them 
according  to  their  culture  and  geographical  location.  A 
very  satisfactory  classification  on  the  basis  of  language  has 
been  made  by  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology  in  Washington.  It 
recognizes  fifty-nine  independent  families  north  of  Mexico, 
the  most  important  of  which  are  the  Algonquian,  Athapas- 
can, Eskimauan,  Iroquoian,  Muskhogean,  and  Siouan.10 

sPrescott,  "Conquest  of  Mexico"  (ed.  Kirk),  vol.  i.  pp.  72,  97. 
» Sir  C.  R.  Markham,  "The  Inca  Civilization  in  Peru,"  in  Winsor's  "  Nai\ 
and  Crit.  History,"  vol.  i.  p.  209. 

lOFarrand,  "Basis  of  American  History,"  pp.  92-96. 


ABORIGINAL     AMERICA  11 

A  study  of  a  map  showing  the  location  of  the  various 
families  raises  some  interesting  questions.  While  it  indicates 
comparative  stability  of  location  at  the  time  when  the  Euro- 
peans appeared,  it  speaks  in  unmistakable  terms  of  great 
migrations  in  earlier  times.  One  cannot  but  compare  them 
with  the  great  migrations  of  the  time  when  the  Barbarians 
were  sweeping  over  Europe.  There  is  an  Athapascan  stock  in 
the  far  northwest  between  Hudson's  Bay  and  the  Pacific,  and 
another  on  the  Mexican  border.  So  long  ago  was  the  sepa- 
ration, however,  that  their  dialects  and  culture  reveal  few 
things  in  common.  Some  of  the  other  widely  scattered  races 
have  more  in  common.  The  movement  of  the  Algonquian 
family  evidently  was  from  the  North  Atlantic  region  west- 
ward and  southward,  a  few  being  found  so  far  south  as 
South  Carolina.  The  Siouan  family  seems  to  have  moved 
westward  from  the  Carolinas  and  Virginia  through  Ohio, 
where  they  probably  came  in  conflict  with  the  Algonquian 
and  Iroquoian.  This  was  near  the  home  of  the  latter,  who 
centered  about  Lake  Erie  and  Lake  Ontario,  forming  the 
famous  Five  Nations,  which  gave  Hiawatha  to  Romance. 
Some  of  them  were  found  in  the  southern  Appalachian  region. 
The  best  known  tribes  of  the  Sioux  found  by  Europeans  in 
the  east  and  south  were  the  Catawba  of  Carolina,  and  the 
Biloxi  of  Mississippi.  Of  the  Algonquian  stock,  Delaware, 
Massachusetts,  Pequot,  Narraganset,  and  Shawnee,  who 
gave  Tecumseh  to  history,  are  familiar  names  of  the  colonial 
era  in  the  east;  also  the  Powhatan  confederacy  in  Virginia. 
The  Cheyenne,  Illinois,  Fox,  Kickapoo  and  Pottawattomie 
belong  farther  west.  The  Muskogean  seem  to  have  re- 
mained east  of  the  Mississippi,  and  south  of  the  Cumberland. 
The  well-known  tribes  of  these  were  the  Alabama,  Chick- 
asaw, Choctaw,  Creek  and  Seminole.  These,  with  the 
Iroquoian  Cherokee,  constitute  the  civilized  tribes  of  the 
present-day  Indian  Territory. 


12  THE    UNITED    STATES 

II 

INDIAN    CHARACTERISTICS    AND    RELIGION 

Certain  physical  characteristics  are  common  to  the 
Indian  in  America,  at  least  when  we  omit  the  Aleuts  and 
Eskimos,  though  they  differ  among  themselves  as  much  as 
the  peoples  of  Europe.  Popularly  called  the  "  Red  Man," 
his  characteristic  color  is  in  reality  brown  with  varying  tints, 
from  comparatively  dark  to  light  yellow.  "  Red  Indian  " 
probably  arose  from  the  sight  of  Indians  painted  red  when 
on  the  war-path,  as  few  really  had  the  reddish  tint.  The  hair 
is  raven  black,  glossy  and  nearly  always  straight,  and  baldness 
is  uncommon,  as  is  also  the  presence  of  hair  on  the  face.  A 
common  practice  was  to  pluck  the  beard  to  prevent  its 
growth.  One  of  the  most  marked  characteristics  of  the 
Indian  is  the  high  cheek  bones,  together  with  a  large  nose, 
generally  aquiline.  In  some  tribes  the  shape  of  the  fore- 
head was  influenced  by  the  custom  of  head-flattening.  In 
stature  he  stood  from  five  and  a  half  to  six  feet,  though  many 
went  beyond  this — the  Patagonians  being  reputed  the  tallest 
race  in  the  world.  The  females  were  slightly  under-sized 
and  showed  a  tendency  toward  obesity. 

In  physical  endurance  the  Indians  were  inferior  to  both 
the  white  man  and  the  negro.  True  in  all  climes,  this  was 
especially  true  in  the  tropics,  though  by  exception  the  Florida 
Indians  were  noted  for  their  fine  physical  qualities.  When 
parceled  out  as  slaves  by  the  Spanish  in  the  West  Indies  and 
South  America  and  forced  to  labor,  they  speedily  perished 
and  whole  tribes  became  extinct.  In  mental  capacity  they 
were  superior  to  the  negro,  but  somewhat  inferior  to  the 
white  man  in  most  things;  even  in  fields  particularly  his  own, 
knowledge  of  the  forests  and  the  habits  of  its  denizens,  the 
Indian  often  had  to  confess  the  superior  skill  of  the  whites. 


Copyright,  1905,  by  John  D.  Morris  &  Company 

Aztec  Priests  Sacrificing  a  Human  Victim  to  the  Sun 

Drawn  from  data  furnished  by  the  Ramirez  MSS.  and  Clavigero' 

Research  by  P.  Fritel 


ABORIGINAL     AMERICA  15 

A  child  of  the  forest  and  the  plain,  the  "  Red  Man  "  felt 
his  kinship  with  nature  and  bowed  to  her  as  his  god.11  He 
dwelt  in  a  land  of  spirits  and  dreamed  of  "  ampler  hunting- 
grounds  beyond  the  night,"  where  his  spirit  would  join  in 
the  chase  with  those  of  his  companions  gone  before.  The 
Great  Spirit  was  worshiped,  generally  in  the  person  of  the 
Sun.  This  was  especially  true  in  Mexico  and  South  Amer- 
ica. But  all  nature  about  the  Indian  was  peopled  with 
spirits,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  he  ever  venerated  one  great  over- 
ruling spirit  until  taught  by  the  white  man.  On  the  plains 
the  spirit-buffalo  was  of  prime  importance;  in  agricultural 
realms,  the  rain-god.  There  were  evil  spirits  as  well  as  good, 
both  of  which  he  implored,  and  appeased  the  former  with 
charms,  sacrifices  and  fastings.12  Even  the  conception  of 
good  and  bad  spirits  show  the  influences  of  the  forces  of  na- 
ture. The  Cherokees,  for  example,  looked  to  the  Sunland,  or 
east,  for  the  red  gods  of  victory;  out  of  the  cold  north  came 
the  blue  spirit  of  disaster.  Human  sacrifices  were  not  com- 
mon north  of  Mexico,  though  some  tribes  made  a  feast  of  the 
slain  after  a  notable  victory.  Though  the  Indian  worshiped 
the  myriad  spirits  of  nature,  he  seldom  bowed  to  gods  of  wood 
and  stone  made  with  his  own  hand.  Some  tribes,  however, 
had  palladiums  which  were  the  centers  of  great  ceremonials 
and  with  which  their  prosperity  was  inseparably  bound  up. 
The  Indian  religion  was  peculiar  in  that  the  idea  of  persona] 
sin  was  almost  wholly  absent.  If  the  god  had  been  offended, 
the  tribe,  not  an  individual,  was  guilty,  and  entrance  to  the 
happy  hunting  ground  did  not  depend  upon  an  upright  life 
in  this  world.  The  Indian  often  tortured  himself,  but  this 
was  to  win  the  favor  of  his  god,  not  to  appease  him.  Each 
tribe  had  a  reputed  founder  whose  good-will  must  always 
be  kept.    Often  he  was  said  to  have  been  a  great  trickster, 

nGrinnell,  "The  Story  of  the  Indian,"  p.  163. 
12  Frederick  Starr,  "The  American  Indian,"  p.  80. 


16 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


sometimes  an  anthropomorphic  animal.  The  prophet  or 
priest  was  also  a  medicine  man,  who  effected  his  cures  by 
charms  and  incantations.  From  the  ghost  dance,  which  orig- 
inated in  Nevada  about  twenty  years  ago,  and  took  the  place 
of  the  plains  ceremonials,  we  learn  that  the  religion  of  a  tribe 
was  not  cast  in  a  fixed  mold,  but  was  subject  to  decay  or  to 
development.13 

Burial  customs  varied  in  detail,  but  inhumation  was 
commonly  practiced.     The  Hurons  exposed  their  dead  on 

scaffolds  for  a  season,  until 
the  "Feast  of  the  Dead," 
and  then  gathered  their  bones 
into  a  common  sepulcher. 
Those  who  buried  their  dead 
often  placed  them  in  a  sitting 
posture,  facing  the  east,  and 
put  into  the  grave  the  imple- 
ments of  war  and  the  chase 
belonging  to  the  deceased 
and  food  enough  for  the 
journey  of  one  of  his  spirits 
to  the  happy  hunting  ground. 
Another  spirit,  for  each  indi- 
vidual was  believed  to  have 
several,  haunted  the  body  and 
the  village.14 

North  of  New  Mexico, 
on  the  plains  and  in  the  east,  the  prevailing  plan  for 
a  house  or  wigwam,  as  it  was  called,  was  conical.  It 
was  constructed  by  setting  several  poles  in  the  ground 
and   bringing   them   together    at  the   top.     Splits,    poles, 

13  Starr,  "  First  Steps  in  Human  Progress,"  pp.  205-215. 
i^Farrand,   "Basis   of   American   History,"  p.  251;     Brinton,  "The  Myths 
of  the  New  World,"  p.  60. 


Indian    Braves    Assisting    in 
Burial  of  a  Chief 

Painting  by  F.  Bradley 


c.     <    <■       <■ 


:c      t    c   :vc    I     c 


4   ;  ,c  ,   « , c 


,   C        CC  C      t  i  I 

,       !.     r  «     <  '         »  ' 


ABORIGINAL     AMERICA  19 

bark,  brush  and  reeds  were  used  for  covering.  Smoke 
escaped  through  a  hole  at  the  top.  The  wigwams  were 
grouped  in  villages  and  sometimes  they  were  surrounded  by 
palisades.  The  "  long  houses  "  of  the  Iroquois,  from  fifty 
to  one  hundred  feet  long,  were  well  constructed  with  a  stout 


The  Square  Tower 

Cliff  Palace,  in  the  Mesa  Verde 

From  a  photograph 

framework.  Small  compartments  provided  with  sleeping 
bunks  ranged  around  the  walls.  Great  communal  houses 
were  found  in  the  Columbia  region.  In  California  the  dug- 
out and  dome-shaped  houses  built  of  clay,  and  entered 
from  the  top,  were  the  general  type.  In  New  Mexico  the 
Spaniards  found  aggregations  of  continuous  rooms  which 
they  called  "  pueblos,"  and  which  were  several  stories 
high.  Entrance  was  made  through  the  flat  roofs  by  means 


20  THE    UNITED    STATES 

of  ladders,  the  walls  often  being  made  without  gates  for  the 
sake  of  protection.  For  the  same  reason  the  so-called  "  cliff- 
dwellers  "  constructed  their  rooms  on  the  sides  of  cliffs  diffi- 
cult of  access.15 

Ill 

INDUSTRIES,   LIFE  AND  RECREATIONS   OF  THE   INDIANS 

Aside  from  war,  the  pursuits  of  the  Indian  depended 
largely  on  his  locality  and  environment.  Most  of  the  tribes 
depended  mainly  on  agriculture  for  their  subsistence.  Es- 
pecially was  this  true  on  the  Atlantic  slope,  while  hunting 
was  more  common  in  the  north  and  west.  Corn  stood 
first  in  importance  among  the  agricultural  products,  but 
vegetables  were  not  unknown.  The  products  of  the 
farm  were  supplemented  by  hunting  and  fishing,  and  by 
gathering  the  edible  products  of  the  forest.  The  Indians  of 
the  plains  lived  almost  wholly  by  the  chase.  Strange  to  say, 
they  would  not  eat  birds  or  fish,  but  sometimes  partook  of 
the  flesh  of  horses  and  dogs,  along  with  dried  grasshoppers, 
snakes  and  other  like  delicacies.  The  "  Digger  "  Indian  of 
the  Columbia  region  lived  mainly  upon  roots,  and  the  acorn 
was  a  staple  food  in  California.16  Since  the  coming  of  the 
Spanish  the  Navajos  have  depended  mainly  on  their  herds 
of  sheep  and  goats,  but  often  have  raised  them  only  to  see 
them  driven  away  by  the  predatory  Apaches.  The  horse 
and  dog  were  the  domestic  animals  of  common  use.  The 
Indian  pony  of  to-day  is  descended  from  a  stock  brought  by 
the  Spanish,  though  the  Indian  of  the  plains  claims  to  have 
had  horses  before  the  Spanish  ever  came. 

The  prevailing  dress  was  made  of  skins,  heavy  in  the 
cold  regions  for  warmth  and  decreasing  in  weight  and  im- 

!5  Read  Morgan,  "  Houses  and  House-life  of  the  American  Aborigines." 
10  Read  Wilson,   "  Prehistoric   Man,"   chs.   ii.-iii. 


ABORIGINAL     AMERICA 


21 


portance  toward  the  south.  The  men  wore  a  skirt,  a  breech- 
clout,  leggings,  and  moccasins.  The  women  wore  a  tunic 
with  short  sleeves,  a  sort  of  apron,  a  belt,  leggings  and  moc- 
casins. When  the  weather  permitted  the  men  stripped  to  the 
breech-clout.  Their  head-dress,  especially  in  the  war  dance, 
was  very  ornate,  consisting  of  a  sort  of  cap  covered  with  long 


Copyright,  1905,  by  John  D.  Morris  &  Company 

The  Cliff  Palace 
In  the  Cliff  Palace  Canon,  Southwest  Colorado 

feathers,  with  a  long  streamer  of  feathers  hanging  down  the 
back.  The  children  wore  no  clothing  in  warm  weather.  The 
age  of  ten  was  a  sort  of  "  coming  out  "  period  for  the  boys, 
when  they  assumed  the  breech-clout  and  were  allowed  to 
accompany  their  elders  in  the  chase  or  war.  The  hair  was 
worn  long  and  on  the  plains  it  was  plaited  in  two  braids  and 
hung  down  on  each  side;  in  the  east  the  head  was  shaved 
except  for  a  crest  along  the  top,  which  was  left  for  a  scalp- 
lock.  In  war  the  victor  cut  this  from  the  head  of  his  slain 
foe  and  hung  it  to  his  belt  as  a  trophy.  Paint  was  used 
freely  before  going  on  the  warpath.  Tattooing  was  prac- 
ticed to  some  extent  in  various  tribes.     Necklaces,  of  shells, 


m  THE    UNITED    STATES 

turquoise  and  pearls,  and  nose  and  ear  pendants  were  in 
common  use.17 

The  languages  of  the  Indians  were  polysynthetic ;  that 
is,  "  much  putting  together,"  though  some  tribes  showed  a 
different  class.  Some  of  the  dialects  were  pleasing  to  the 
ear,  while  others  were  harsh  and  grating.  North  of  Mexico 
there  was  no  written  language  except  a  rude  sort  of  picture- 
writing;  consequently  the  Indians  have  left  no  literature. 
John  Eliot,  missionary  to  the  Indians  in  Massachusetts,  suc- 
ceeded in  reducing  the  Algonquin  tongue  to  writing  and 
translated  the  Bible  into  it.  At  a  much  later  period  (1824) 
the  Cherokees  invented  a  sort  of  syllabic  system  of  writing. 
The  Indian  of  poetry  and  romance  is  credited  with  ex- 


Copyright,  1905,  by  John  D.  Morris  &  Company 

The   Belt  of  Wampum  Delivered  by  the   Indians  to  William  Penn  at  the 
"  Great  Treaty  "  under  the  Elm  Tree  at  Shackamaxon,  in  1682 

pressing  himself  in  language  of  poetic  beauty.  The 
total  number  of  languages  for  the  two  Americas  is  put 
by  some  authorities  as  high  as  760,  which  means  that  few 
tribes  spoke  the  same  language.  The  necessity  of  inter- 
communication, however,  compelled  them  to  know  something 
of  the  language  of  their  neighbors.  In  the  absence  of  this, 
resort  was  had  to  sign  language— the  bundle  of  arrows  tied 
with  a  snake-skin  and  sent  to  the  English  was  a  declaration 
of  war.  Treaties  were  recorded  by  means  of  wampum  belts. 
Time  was  reckoned  by  moons,  but  the  length  of  its  passage 
was  lost  in  the  haze  of  years. 

The  social  and  political  organization  was  based  upon  the 

"See  Starr,  "First  Steps  in  Human  Progress,"  ch.  xiv. 


ABORIGINAL     AMERICA  23 

gentile  or  clan  system.  It  is  uncertain  whether  the  clan  is 
an  enlarged  family  or  the  family  a  new  formation  within 
the  clan.  Descent  was  reckoned  in  the  female  line  and  inter- 
marriage within  a  clan,  several  of  which  made  a  tribe,  was 
forbidden.  When  a  warrior  married  he  passed  over  to  his 
wife's  clan  and  the  children  belonged  to  her  clan.18  Some 
argue  from  this  an  existing  or  previously  existing  sexual 
promiscuity,  the  children  being  assigned  to  the  mother  be- 
cause their  paternity  was  uncertain.  This  reasoning,  how- 
ever, is  unsafe,  for  examples  may  be  found  of  transition 
from  the  paternal  system  to  the  maternal,  such  as  among  the 
Kwakiutl  of  Vancouver  Island.  "  Blood  revenge  "  was  a 
clan  matter,  the  clan  demanding  satisfaction  for  the  loss  of 
a  member.  When  murder  was  committed  within  a  clan  by 
one  of  its  members,  the  act  was  either  overlooked,  as  to  kill 
the  offender  would  only  be  a  new  act  of  sacrilege,  or  he  was 
first  expelled  and  then  hunted  down.19 

The  principal  clan  officers  were  the  sachem,  the  leading 
man  in  times  of  peace,  and  the  chief  or  leader  in  war.  The 
office  of  sachem  was  loosely  hereditary  within  the  clan, 
vacancies  being  filled  by  election.  Immediate  blood-relations, 
such  as  a  brother  or  a  sister's  son,  were  generally  chosen,  .but 
any  male  member  of  the  clan  was  eligible,  and  he  could  be  de- 
posed for  cause.  Personal  fitness  was  the  test  for  leadership 
— in  most  places  ability  to  lead  in  war,  but  in  the  north- 
west, wealth  and  social  rank.  The  number  of  chiefs  varied : 
among  the  Iroquois  there  was  one  to  every  seventy- 
five  or  hundred  persons.  The  Indians  were  essentially 
democratic,  equality  and  independence  being  at  the  basis  of 
their  political  institutions,  and  hence  the  choice  of  chiefs,  like 
that  of  sachems,  belonged  to  the  clan.  In  a  few  cases  per- 
haps the  term  king  was  not  inaptly  applied,  as  in  the  case 

is  Starr,  "First  Steps  in  Human  Progress,"  pp.  196-203. 
19  Farrand,  "  Basis  of  American  History,"  p.  198    et  seq. 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


of  Philip,  commonly  called  King  of  the  Wampanoags,  but 
in  general  the  title  was  a  misnomer.  The  chief's  preeminence 
depended  mainly  on  the  condition  of  war,  but  he  was  also  a 
member  ex-officio  of  the  tribal  council.  This  was  natural, 
however,  since  the  principal  matters  of  discussion  in  the 


King  Philip 
From  an  old  print 

council  related  to   war   and   foreign   relations.      In  these 
councils  the  women  were  allowed  to  be  heard  by  proxy. 

Strangely  enough,  among  the  Iroquois  the  women  had 
the  sole  right  to  declare  war.  They  also  had  the  right  of 
adoption;  that  is,  to  decide  the  fate  of  captives  in  war.  Fe- 
male chiefs  were  met  with  a  few  times  by  Europeans,  but 


ABORIGINAL     AMERICA  25 

usually  the  women  held  a  position  popularly  regarded  as 
inferior.  The  task  of  tilling  the  soil  fell  to  her  lot,  partly 
because  the  braves  were  engaged  in  the  more  arduous  duties 
of  war  and  the  chase,  partly  because  they  considered  it  be- 
neath their  dignity  to  perform  such  labor.  But  that  does 
not  necessarily  mean  that  woman  was  a  drudge;  in  reality 
there  was  a  more  or  less  equitable  division  of  labor,  and  being 
mistress  of  her  wigwam  she  there  did  as  she  pleased.  With 
the  changes  wrought  by  later  development,  the  cessation  of 
war  and  decrease  in  importance  of  the  chase,  the  task  of  the 
brave  became  less  arduous,  that  of  the  squaw  more  so,  in 
comparison  at  least. 

When  the  clan  system  prevailed  land  was  held  in  com- 
mon and  the  right  of  inheritance  rested  with  the  clan.  Indi- 
vidual ownership  is  said  to  have  existed  among  certain  tribes 
in  California  and  the  northwest.  Such  of  an  individual's 
personal  effects  as  were  not  buried  with  him  went  to  his 
nearest  of  kin  within  the  clan.  Hospitality  was  so  free  that 
almost  anything  might  be  taken  by  anyone  who  wanted  it, 
and  the  niggard  was  classed  along  with  the  coward.  Regular 
slavery  existed  in  the  west,  a  mild  form  of  it  in  the  east,  and 
after  the  coming  of  the  white  man  the  Indians  imitated  him 
in  the  ownership  of  negro  slaves. 

In  the  simple  life  of  the  Indian  few  things  were  needed 
to  supply  his  daily  wants,  hence  there  was  but  little  industrial 
activity.  Stone,  bone,  shells  and  wood  furnished  the  material 
for  his  tools.  From  the  first  he  made  his  tomahawk  or  battle- 
ax,  his  arrow-points,  many  of  which  may  still  be  found  in 
various  parts  of  the  country,  his  knife  and  his  pipe.  Bowls, 
pots,  mortars  and  pestles  for  pounding  grain  also  were  made 
of  stone.  Great  care  was  bestowed  upon  the  tomahawk  and 
the  pipe,  the  latter  an  important  adjunct  on  state  occasions. 
The  Haidas  were  famous  for  their  slate  carving  and  Navajos 
and  Pueblos  for  their  necklaces  and  ear-pendants.    Fishing- 


26 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


hooks,  sewing-awls,  knives  and  sometimes  arrow-heads  were 
made  of  bone.  The  Pueblos  carved  their  mythological  char- 
acters out  of  wood  and  gave  them  to  their  children  for  dolls. 
The  huge  totem  poles  of  the  northwest,  used  to  designate 
the  clans,  were  elaborately  carved  and  painted.  Navajos 
and  Pueblos  had  attained  no  little  skill  in  textile  work,  the 
material  being  cotton  at  first  and  later  wool.  Feather  weav- 
ing was  practiced  by  the  Gulf  tribes,  where  the  subtropical 
birds  furnished  them  with  beautiful  material.    Every  squaw 


Moki  Pueblo  Woman  Making  Pottery 
From  a  photograph 

had  at  the  door  of  her  wigwam  a  mat  woven  of  the  native 
grasses  and  rushes  and  stained  with  the  beautiful  native 
dyes.  Woven  baskets  were  found  everywhere,  except  on  the 
plains,  where  boxes  made  of  rawhide  took  their  place.  The 
baskets  of  California  were  famous  for  their  beauty  of  design 
and  closeness  of  weaving.  Pottery  also  was  of  almost  uni- 
versal use;  the  vessels  of  the  east  are  inferior  to  those  of  the 
Pueblos,  who  understood  how  to  paint  figures  and  fix  them 
by  burning.  All  of  this  work  fell  to  the  women,  who  also 
dressed  the  skins  and  made  thread  of  sinew.    But  in  all  this 


ABORIGINAL     AMERICA  27 

they  have  made  no  distinctive  contribution,  with  a  few  ex- 
ceptions. We  admire  their  handiwork  as  that  of  Indians, 
not  because  of  any  intrinsic  merit,  but  in  a  sort  of  patroniz- 
ing way. 

War  and  the  chase  were  the  only  occupations  worthy 
of  an  Indian  brave.  His  artillery  consisted  of  the  knife, 
club,  lance,  bow  and  arrow  and  tomahawk  or  hatchet.  The 
lance  and  shield  were  used  only  by  the  horsemen  of  the 
plains  where  there  were  no  trees  and  underbrush  to  interfere 
with  them.  Like  the  German  leaders  described  by  Tacitus, 
the  chief  commanded  not  so  much  because  of  his  authority  as 
by  his  personal  qualities.  If  he  could  recount  many  deeds 
of  valor  in  battle  and  wore  many  scalps  in  his  belt,  the  young 
braves  were  ready  and  willing  to  follow  him.  When  the 
decision  for  war  had  been  made,  the  braves  were  invited  to 
take  part.  The  preparation  for  war  often  lasted  some  time, 
the  object  being  to  assemble  a  sufficient  number  of  braves 
and  arouse  their  fury  to  an  uncontrollable  pitch.  This  latter 
was  done  by  recounting  the  story  of  their  wrongs  and  how 
their  ancestors,  or  how  on  previous  occasions  they  them- 
selves, had  avenged  their  insults  and  won  glory. 

The  Indian  battle  was  something  very  different  from 
the  battle  of  the  Europeans,  who  several  times  learned  this 
to  their  sorrow.  It  was  a  surprise,  or  a  skirmish  from  am- 
bush, or  a  hand-to-hand  encounter.  The  brave  was  in  reality 
a  man  of  courage,  yet  he  would  not  fight  in  the  open  so  long 
as  he  could  help  it  or  unless  he  could  gain  an  advantage  by 
the  surprise.  He  preferred  to  lurk  in  the  shadow  and  fell 
his  enemy  from  behind,  springing  upon  him  with  a  yell  which 
in  itself  struck  terror  into  the  mind  of  his  unsuspecting  vic- 
tim. The  ordinary  rule  was  neither  to  ask  nor  give  quarter, 
but  prisoners  were  often  taken  and  were  either  tortured 
to  death  or  enslaved  or  adopted.  Women  and  children  shared 
the  fate  of  the  warriors.    The  wars  were  wars  of  extermina- 


28  THE    UNITED    STATES 

tion,  and  to  kill  a  child  or  a  squaw  was  to  decrease  the  number 
of  future  enemies. 

If  a  campaign  proved  a  failure,  the  braves  shrunk  back 
and  moped  in  silence  with  a  feeling  of  disgrace,  often 
taunted  by  the  squaws  for  their  lack  of  valor.  If  success- 
ful the  return  was  celebrated  with  a  grand  scalp-dance,  the 
women  now  singing  the  praise  of  the  braves  as  they  flour- 
ished the  scalps  about.  Captives  were  made  to  run  the  gaunt- 
let or  were  tied  to  trees  so  that  the  braves  might  amuse  them- 
selves by  tossing  their  tomahawks  at  them  to  see  them  dodge. 
They  were  either  killed  in  this  way  or  burned  at  the  stake. 
Sometimes  they  feasted  upon  one  of  the  slain,  or  made  a  pre- 
tense of  doing  so.  Real  cannibalism,  of  which  this  possibly 
was  a  survival,  cannot  be  said  to  have  existed  north  of  Mex- 
ico. Though  the  condition  of  war  was  almost  chronic,  there 
were  tribes  which  buried  the  hatchet ;  that  is,  made  peace  and 
enjoyed  long  periods  of  repose. 

The  savage  wars  waged  against  the  white  colonists  were 
horrible  indeed,  but  hardly  more  so  than  those  waged  by 
Indians  against  Indians.  In  the  former  the  "  Red  Man  " 
was  fighting  for  his  native  heath;  he  saw  slowly  but  surely 
his  lands  taken  from  him,  while  he  was  being  pushed  back- 
ward, backward,  ever  backward  into  the  forest  and  toward 
the  setting  sun.  Ofttimes,  too,  he  was  mistreated  by  knavish 
whites  and  he  judged  the  race  by  his  opinion  of  the  meanest 
individual. 

Peace  had  her  victories  as  well  as  war,  this  time  in 
athletic  contests,  games,  dances,  feasts  and  story-telling. 
Foot-racing  and  horse-racing  were  common,  but  ball  was 
the  chief  sport.  It  was  played  with  sticks  and  netted  sticks 
resembling  rackets.  Shinny  and  football  were  indulged  in 
by  women,  not,  however,  according  to  Rugby  rules.  Music 
charmed  the  savage,  whether  made  by  the  drum,  the  flageolet, 
whistle,  or  in  songs  of  lullaby  or  work,  love  or  war. 


ABORIGINAL     AMERICA  29 

IV 

PRESENT    CONDITION    AND    FUTURE    OUTLOOK 

Popular  misconceptions  regarding  the  Indians  are  com- 
mon. These  have  arisen  from  the  romance  writers  and  from 
the  accounts  left  by  the  colonists,  who  often  did  not  know 
the  Indian  as  he  really  was.  The  Indian  was  by  training  and 
nature  deliberate  and  dignified  on  state  occasions,  and  it 
was  at  just  such  times  that  the  colonists  received  their  strong- 
est impressions  of  him.  In  consequence,  they  described  him 
as  taciturn,  often  morose  and  sullen.  On  the  contrary,  those 
who  have  known  him  in  his  home  and  observed  his  life  there 
declare  that  he  is  cheerful  and  talkative.  The  "  noble  red 
man  "  was  largely  a  creation  of  the  romantic  imagination. 
His  much-vaunted  stoical  indifference  to  pain  was,  indeed, 
a  remarkable  characteristic;  but  even  this  was  a  sort  of  dress 
put  on  for  show  in  public.  In  private  life  he  was  nervous, 
hysterical,  often  manifesting  a  childish  dread  of  pain.  As 
for  honor,  some  of  the  colonists  looked  upon  the  Indian  very 
much  as  the  Romans  did  the  Carthaginian,  but  often  with- 
out just  cause.  In  most  cases  the  Indian  kept  faith  when 
dealt  with  fairly,  even  when  being  gradually  pushed  back- 
ward from  his  hunting  grounds.  But  at  best  he  was  a  dirty 
savage,  dwelling  in  squalor  and  filth,  and  content  therewith. 
In  consequence  epidemic  diseases  have  often  decimated  the 
tribes. 

No  reliable  statistics  are  to  be  had  regarding  the  num- 
ber of  Indians  in  America  at  the  time  of  the  discovery,  but 
conservative  estimates  place  the  number  east  of  the  Miss- 
issippi at  200,000.  West  of  the  river  were  many  more.  In 
1900  there  were  260,000  in  the  United  States,  129,815  of 
whom  were  "  Indians  not  taxed."  Whole  tribes  have  become 
extinct.     Out  of  sixteen  tribes  met  with  on  a  journey  from 


30  THE    UNITED    STATES 

Charleston  to  Albemarle  Sound  in  1701,  only  the  famous 
Tuscaroras  and  Catawbas  remain.  The  most  marked  de- 
crease has  occurred  on  the  plains.  The  Pawnees  have  fallen 
from  12,000  in  1834  to  650  in  1900.  The  Navajos  have  been 
almost  undisturbed  and  are  holding  their  own ;  but  the  native 
Calif  ornians,  numerous  at  the  time  of  the  discovery  of  gold, 
have  almost  become  extinct.  A  century  ago  the  Aleuts  were 
estimated  at  25,000,  now  at  about  2,000. 

For  this  destruction  the  coming  of  the  white  man  is 
chiefly  responsible.  Neither  in  war  nor  in  peace  has  the 
Indian  been  able  to  stand  against  or  beside  him.  Senti- 
mentalists have  inveighed  against  the  whites  for  this;  but 
history  teaches  that  inferior  people  must  yield  to  a  superior 
civilization  in  one  way  or  another.  They  must  take  on  civi- 
lization or  pass  out.  The  negro  was  able  to  endure  slavery 
while  learning  the  rudiments  of  civilization ;  the  Indian  could 
not  endure  slavery,  and,  for  centuries  at  least,  he  refused 
to  be  taught.  He  is  at  last  going  to  school,  but  his  graduation 
probably  will  only  hasten  his  extinction  as  a  race.  An  in- 
tense race  feeling  has  preserved  the  negro  from  amalgama- 
tion, but  this  feeling  does  not  exist  so  strongly  among  the 
whites  against  the  Indians,  nor  between  the  Indians  and 
negroes. 

It  is  not  meant  by  this  to  convey  the  idea  that  the  day 
will  soon  come  when  there  will  be  no  Indians  in  the  United 
States,  much  less  in  America.  Nearly  all  the  Indians  are 
now  west  of  the  Mississippi,  practically  all  of  whom  retain 
a  real  tribal  organization.  The  disappearance  of  the  separate 
organization  does  not  seem  to  be  far  distant,  but  commu- 
nities of  distinctly  Indian  blood  probably  will  be  met  with 
centuries  hence.  And  no  doubt  they  will  make  good  citizens, 
taking  part  in  the  teeming  life  all  around  them  instead  of 
standing  aloof,  like  the  Basques  in  the  mountain  fastnesses 
of  the  Pyrenees. 


Chapter   II 
DISCOVERIES    AND    EXPLORATIONS 

I 

PRECURSORS    OF    COLUMBUS 

SO  far  as  man  can  see  now,  Christopher  Columbus  will 
be  honored  throughout  all  time  as  the  discoverer  of 
America;  yet  there  is  good  historical  evidence  that 
Europeans  visited  our  shores  many  years  before  he  was 
born.  This  evidence  is  found  in  the  "  sagas  "  or  writings 
of  the  Northmen.  These  sagas  were  put  into  written  form 
two  or  three  hundred  years  after  the  events  they  describe, 
but  their  credibility  is  not  thereby  destroyed,  for  students  of 
the  classics  know  well  that  the  Homeric  poems  were  handed 
down  by  word  of  mouth  for  centuries.  The  sum  and  sub- 
stance of  the  report  of  the  sagas  is  that  Leif  Ericson  sailed 
away  from  Norway  about  the  year  1000,  and  that  he  dis- 
covered an  unknown  land  while  on  a  missionary  voyage  from 
Iceland  to  Greenland.1  The  precise  whereabouts  of  the  new 
land  thus  discovered  is  not  known,  but  from  the  several  ac- 
counts contained  in  the  Codex  Flatoensis,  or  the  "  Flatey 
Book,"  as  the  compilation  is  called  in  English,  it  is  impos- 
sible to  believe  that  the  shores  touched  were  other  than  those 
of  America,  probably  Nova  Scotia  or  New  England. 

Subsequently  the  Northmen  conducted  several  voyages 
to  Vinland  the  Good,  as  the  new  land  was  called,  and  made  a 
few  attempts  at  settlement.  One  party  seems  to  have  visited 
a  southern  latitude  where  they  passed  the  winter  without  see- 
ing snow  and  where  their  cattle  were  supported  by  grazing. 

i  Channing,  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  i.  p.  3. 
31 


32  THE    UNITED    STATES 

According  to  their  story,  they  also  found  a  wonderful  bird- 
land  where  the  eggs  were  so  thick  that  it  was  hardly  possible 
to  step  between  them.  Self-sown  wheat  fields  were  also  there, 
and  in  the  hollows  vines  heavy  with  grapes.  The  natives, 
whom  the  Northmen  called  Skrellings  (inferiors),  were  said 
to  have  come  in  skin  boats  and  exchanged  perfect  unsullied 
skins  for  a  red  stuff  (cloth)  a  span  in  length,  which  they 
bound  about  their  heads.2  The  Skrellings  were  very  fond 
of  cow's  milk,  and  we  are  told  in  the  Icelandic  writings  that 
the  outcome  of  their  trading  was  that  they  carried  away  their 
stomachs.  The  Northmen  made  many  voyages  to  this 
goodly  land  and  carried  away  timber,  peltries,  grapes  and  all 
kinds  of  game  and  fish,  "  and  other  good  things,"  but  after 
a  while  they  ceased  to  come,  and  the  memory  of  it  was  lost 
save  to  a  few  scholars  who  read  about  it  in  old  manuscripts. 
While,  therefore,  Leif  Ericson  and  his  followers  were 
probably  the  first  Europeans  to  visit  America,  their  discovery 
had  no  permanent  result  and  the  history  of  the  country  would 
have  been  what  it  has  been  had  they  never  left  their  native 
shores.3 

Omitting  the  stories  of  the  very  ancient  empires  of 
Babylon  and  upper  Egypt,  practically  all  interest  in  the  his- 
tory of  civilization  down  to  the  close  of  the  middle  ages 
centers  about  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  The  Greeks  and 
Romans  really  knew  very  little  of  any  countries  not  bordering 
upon  it,  and  much  that  they  knew  was  forgotten  after  their 
splendid  civilizations  ceased  to  be  a  living  force.  When  the 
Saracen  invaders  occupied  northern  Africa  and  Spain  they 
so  threatened  the  commerce  of  Europe  with  Asia  that  Con- 
stantinople alone  kept  up  a  considerable  trade  with  the  East. 
Then  came  the  Seljukian  Turks,  a  nomadic  tribe  from  cen- 
tral Asia,  whose  conversion  to  Mohammedanism  seemed  only 

2  Reeves,  "  Wineland,"  p.  174. 

3Winsor,   "Pre-Columbian   Explorations"  in  "Narrative   and   Critical    His- 
tory," vol.  i.  ch.  2;  also  Fiske,  "Discovery  of  America,"  vol.  1.  pp.  149-255. 


EXPLORATIONS  35 

.to  increase  their  barbarism.  Not  content  with  desecrating 
the  Holy  Land  and  sweeping  away  the  civilization  of  Asia 
Minor,  they  began  to  threaten  the  very  center  of  the  Byzan- 
tine Empire,  Constantinople,  and  even  Europe  itself.  This 
danger  aroused  the  leading  minds  in  Christendom  to  a  reali- 
zation of  the  necessity  of  self-defense  and  the  result  was  the 
Crusades. 

To  many  people  the  Crusades  mean  simply  a  series  of 
expeditions  based  on  religious  zeal  to  rescue  the  tomb  of  the 
Savior  from  the  impious  hands  of  the  infidel.  While  this 
was  the  ostensible  object,  it  is  probable  that  mixed  motives 
never  entered  more  largely  into  any  expedition.  Kings  went 
to  extend  their  borders  and  found  empires;  nobles,  in  the 
hope  of  gaining  power  and  becoming  kings;  knights,  in 
search  of  adventure ;  serfs,  to  gain  their  freedom.  To  all  the 
Pope  held  out  the  promise  of  forgiveness  for  past  and  in- 
dulgence for  future  sins.  In  all  was  the  instinct  of  self- 
defense.  These  expeditions  accomplished  no  permanent  re- 
sults in  rescuing  the  tomb  or  in  founding  empires,  but  they 
stimulated  men's  minds  and  aroused  in  Western  Europe  a 
deeper  interest  in  the  eastern  shores  of  the  Mediterranean, 
an  interest  which  was  never  wholly  lost,  and  although  the 
West  again  sank  into  comparative  inactivity  after  the 
failure  of  their  romantic  adventures,  the  trade  with  the  East 
went  on  by  way  of  Constantinople,  Alexandria  and  Venice. 
Rulers  in  Europe,  both  petty  and  great,  were  kept  busy  at 
home  in  maintaining  their  security  against  usurping  vassals 
and  jealous  neighbors,  until  in  the  latter  half  of  the  fifteenth 
century  the  movement  toward  absolute  monarchies  may  be 
said  to  have  begun.  The  nations  began  to  feel  the  throb  of 
a  new  life  under  its  touch  and  to  look  abroad  in  anticipation 
of  the  strength  which  would  come  with  their  unification. 

At  the  same  time  that  kings  were  building  up  their 
power  the  mind  of  man  was  being  set  free.     The  literatures 


36  THE    UNITED    STATES 

of  Greece  and  Rome  were  rediscovered  and  the  bonds  of 
scholasticism  were  broken.  Printing  from  movable  type, 
recently  discovered,  was  paving  the  way  for  a  more  general 
diffusion  of  knowledge.  Sculpture  and  painting  were  culti- 
vated as  never  before — and  while  science  was  still  groping 
in  darkness  there  were  on  every  hand  signs  of  a  coming 
dawn.  This  great  period  was  known  as  the  Renaissance,  and 
it  began  in  Italy. 

But  Italy  was  not  at  this  time  wholly  absorbed  in  litera- 
ture, art  and  architecture.  Capital  was  abundant,  agricul- 
ture and  manufacturing  were  flourishing  and  commerce  was 
in  a  thriving  condition.  Perhaps  the  chief  permanent  re- 
sult of  the  Crusades  was  the  stimulus  given  to  commerce  with 
the  East,  or  Indies,  as  the  southeastern  part  of  Asia,  with  its 
adjacent  islands,  was  known.  The  leader  of  the  Italian 
states  in  this  respect  was  Venice,  though  Genoa  became  no 
mean  rival.  Of  the  two  important  trade  routes  to  India  the 
Venetians  took  the  one  by  Cairo  and  the  Red  Sea,  that  is,  the 
water  route;  the  Genoese  allied  themselves  with  Constanti- 
nople and  took  the  northern  route  by  the  Black  Sea  and 
thence  overland  by  caravans.  This  trade  consisted  mainly 
in  the  exchange  of  glass  vessels,  wine,  linen  and  light  woolen 
goods  for  silks,  ivory,  precious  stones,  and  the  much  coveted 
spices.  It  contributed  largely  to  the  wealth  and  importance 
of  these  diminutive  states,  whose  increasing  power  was  viewed 
with  jealous  eyes  by  the  states  of  the  West,  which  naturally 
became  restless  at  their  dependence  on  the  Italians  for  these 
wares.  Could  they  not  find  a  route  to  India  and  secure  them 
directly?  This  question  had  been  pondered  for  some  time 
when  one  of  the  great  events  of  history,  the  capture  of  Con- 
stantinople (1453)  by  the  Turks,  which  cut  off  the  route  used 
by  the  Genoese  and  threatened  that  of  the  Venetians,  made  it 
more  imperative  than  ever  to  find  an  answer.  But  how?  In 
spite  of  the  fact  that  this  commerce  had  lasted  many  years 


EXPLORATIONS 


37 


and  had  been  considerable  in  amount,  not  even  the  Italians 
knew  much  of  the  countries  from  whence  it  came.  The 
traffic  had  not  been  carried  on  directly,  but  through  the  Mo- 
hammedans, and  few  Europeans  had  ever  seen  India  or 
Cathay  (China) .  By  what  other  than  the  well-known  routes 
could  those  lands  be  reached? 

Nearly  six  hundred  years  before  Christ,  Pythagoras  an- 


o 
o 


r 


Conception  of  the  Shape  of  the  World,  50  A.D. 

nounced  his  belief  that  the  earth  was  a  sphere,  and  his  teach- 
ing was  accepted  by  Plato  and  Aristotle.  Aristotle  in  the 
fourth  century  B.C.  demonstrated  his  theory  with  remark- 
able accuracy  by  observing  that  the  earth's  shadow  on  the 
moon  at  the  time  of  eclipse  was  circular  in  form,  and  by 
noticing  that  certain  stars  which  were  visible  in  southerly 
latitudes  could  not  be  seen  farther  north.4  How  men  could 
walk  in  the  antipodal  world  with  their  "  heads  down  "  was  a 

♦  See  Aristotle's  "De  Coelo,"  Taylor's  translation. 


38  THE    UNITED    STATES 

problem  that  puzzled  even  the  philosophers,  but  they  held  on 
to  a  vague  belief  in  some  such  world.  Strabo,  the  Roman 
geographer  (40  B.C. — 60  a.d.),  quoted  with  approval  the 
belief  of  Eratosthenes  (third  century  B.C.)  in  the  feasi- 
bility of  a  sea  voyage  from  Iberia  (Spain)  to  India  on  the 
same  parallel  of  latitude.5  But  no  mariner  was  found  bold 
enough  to  pass  beyond  the  Pillars  of  Hercules  and  tempt  the 
Sea  of  Darkness,  as  the  Atlantic  was  then  called,  and  which 
popular  belief  had  peopled  with  dreadful  monsters.  There 
was  also  the  fear  that  a  ship  having  once  passed  down  the 
slope  of  the  globe  could  never  return  even  if  it  escaped  the 
fiery  zone  at  the  middle  belt  of  the  earth  where  the  vertical 
rays  of  the  sun  caused  the  sea  to  boil  with  fury.  A  popular 
belief  was  that  the  outer  or  unknown  world  was  composed 
chiefly  of  water.  In  the  second  century  a.d.  Claudius 
Ptolemy  propounded  the  theory  that  Asia  extended  indefi- 
nitely to  the  north  and  east,  that  Africa  likewise  extended  in- 
definitely to  the  south  and  east,  and  that  the  two  met  and  in- 
closed the  Indian  Ocean.6 

Such  were  the  inherited  beliefs  of  the  middle  ages,  but 
the  globular  theory  of  the  form  of  the  earth  does  not  ap- 
pear ever  to  have  been  entirely  forgotten.  It  was  easily 
preserved  among  the  Arabs,  who  were  devoted  students  of 
Aristotle.  Whether  derived  from  the  same  source  or  not,  for 
Christians,  especially  the  schoolmen,  were  also  students  of 
Aristotle — we  find  the  same  theory  referred  to  by  Christian 
writers,  such  as  Roger  Bacon  in  his  "  Opus  Majus  "  in  the 
thirteenth  century  a.d.,  and  by  d'Ailly  in  his  "Imago 
Mundi,"  written  in  the  following  century.  The  revival  of 
the  study  of  the  Greek  writers  in  the  fifteenth  century  greatly 
strengthened  the  hold  of  the  theory,  but  even  before  that 

• 

5  See  Strabo's  "  Geography,"  ch.  iv. 

«See  Tillinghast,  "Geographical  Knowledge  of  the  Ancients  Considered  in 
Relation  to  the  Discovery  of  America,"  in  Winsor,  vol.  i.  ch.  i. 


EXPLORATIONS 


39 


time  men's  minds  had  been  prepared  to  accept  it.  There 
was  first  of  all  the  desire  to  find  a  western  or  southern  route 
to  India.  In  the  thirteenth  century  certain  travelers  who 
had  returned  from  the  East  declared  that  Ptolemy  was  mis- 
taken in  supposing  Asia  to  be  of  indefinite  extent,  for  it  was 
bounded  on  the  east  by  an  ocean.  Some  years  later  this  re- 
port was  confirmed  by 
the  book  of  a  remark- 
able man,  Marco 
Polo. 

Marco  Polo,  a  Vene- 
tian, the  son  of  a 
wealthy  merchant,  ac- 
companied his  father 
on  a  trading  journey  to 
the  far-away  Orient, 
where  he  won  the  favor 
of  the  famous  Kublai 
Khan.  After  an  ab- 
sence of  twenty-four 
years  he  returned  to 
Venice  in  1295,  only  to 
be  cast  in  prison  by  the 
Genoese,  with  whom 
the  Venetians  were  at 
war.  While  in  prison 
he  dictated  "  The  Book  of  Ser  Marco  Polo  the  Venetian 
concerning  the  Kingdom  and  Marvels  of  the  East,"  in 
which  he  described  his  wondrous  travels  through  Thibet, 
Burmah,  Hindoostan,  Siam,  Cathay  and  even  made  men- 
tion of  Cipango  (Japan).  While  the  marvels  received  their 
due  share  of  attention,  the  book,  first  printed  in  1477,  made 
a  real  contribution  to  the  geographical  knowledge  of  Eu- 
rope, perhaps  the  greatest  made  by  any  one  man  to  the 


Marco  Polo 

Taken  from  a  painting  in  the  Gallery  Badia, 
in  Rome 


40 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


geographical  knowledge  of  the  middle  ages.7  It  helped  to 
confirm  the  belief  that  there  was  an  ocean  east  of  Asia. 
Together  with  "  The  Voyage  and  Travels  of  Sir  John 
Mandeville,"  which  appeared  in  the  next  century,  it  also 
helped  to  whet  men's  greed  for  the  wealth  of  the  East  and 
to  keep  alive  their  interest  in  its  fabled  stone  bridges,  pillars 

of  gold,  large  precious  stones, 
and  a  fountain  whose  waters 
possessed  the  remarkable 
power  of  bestowing  perpetual 
youth. 

In  spite  of  all  these  incen- 
tives, however,  and  notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  men 
now  had  the  mariner's  com- 
pass as  a  guide,  the  Sea  of 
Darkness  still  remained  un- 
tried. The  Portuguese  re- 
solved to  make  the  attempt, 
and  their  first  ship  set  out  in 
1419  and  discovered  an  island 
(probably  known  to  the  Por- 
tuguese before  this)  which 
they  called  Madeira.  The 
island  was  set  on  fire  and  is  said  to  have  burned  seven  years, 
after  which  they  planted  it  with  grapes  from  Greece  and 
sugar  from  Sicily  and  Cyprus,  the  first  of  which  are  still 
there.  It  was  the  policy  of  the  Portuguese  to  establish  fac- 
tories or  trading  posts  in  newly  discovered  lands,  and  it  was 
Prince  Henry,  surnamed  the  Navigator,  who  led  the 
voyagers  that  blazed  the  way  for  these.  The  clergy  were 
his  hearty  coadjutors,  and  each  ship  carried  a  priest,  and  a 
church  arose  in  each  factory.     Prince  Henry  died  in  1463, 

*Channing,  "History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  i.  p.  9. 


Prince  Henry,  the  Navigator, 

After  a  miniature  in  the  Chronica  do 

descobrimiento  e  conquista  de  Guine, 

etc.,  National  Library,  Paris 


EXPLORATIONS 


41 


but  his  successor,  John  II.,  inspired  by  him,  continued  the 
work.  In  1484  Diogoleam  passed  down  the  west  coast  of 
Africa  to  a  point  far  below  the  equator,  and  in  1487, 
Bartholomew  Diaz,  accompanied  by  Bartholomew  Colum- 
bus, a  brother  of  the  future  discoverer  of  America,  sailed 
around  the  southern  point  of  Africa,  called  the  Cape  of 
Storms,  and  proceeded  several  hundred  miles  into  the  Indian 
Ocean  before  returning  to  Portugal.  The  name  of  the  cape, 
King  John,  with  good  sense  and  true  insight,  changed  to  that 
of  Good  Hope.  J 

Shortly  after  this,  Columbus,  the  greatest  navigator  of 
his  time,  if  not  of  all  times, 
made  his  famous  voyage;  but 
it  is  proper  to  break  the 
chronology  here  and  follow 
the  fortunes  of  the  Portu- 
guese a  little  farther.  July  8, 
1497,  Vasco  da  Gama  left 
Lisbon  with  four  ships  and 
one  hundred  and  sixty  men. 
May  20,  1497,  he  rode  at 
anchor  before  the  city  of 
Calicut,  India,  where  was 
founded  the  first  European 
factory  in  the  Orient.  Albu- 
querque, by  the  capture  of  So- 
cotora  on  the  Red   Sea  and  Vasco  da  Gama 

OrmUZOn  On  the  Persian  Gulf     After  the  painting  preserved  by  the 

(1507),  closed  to  the  Mussul- 
mans and  Venetians  their  for- 
mer routes  to  the  "  wealth  of  Ormus  and  of  Ind."    In  1510 
he  conquered  Goa,  which,  with  its  fine  harbor,  became  the 
center  of  a  vast  colonial  empire.     Four  thousand  leagues  of 
coast  line,  from  Lisbon  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  from 


family  of  the  Counts  of  Vidigueira, 
descendants  of  the  great  navigator 


42  THE    UNITED    STATES 

there  to  Hindoostan,  then  on  to  Malacca,  Indo-China,  and 
even  Cipango,  were  dominated  by  Portuguese  fortresses. 
Patriotic  and  religious  zeal,  combined  with  love  of  gain,  had 
inspired  the  heroic  work.  None  of  these  hardy  Portuguese 
seamen  had  ever  reached  American  shores,  but  it  may  be  said 
that  their  voyages  constituted  a  school  of  navigation  for  the 
future  American  voyagers. 

The  western  coast  of  Africa  was  of  no  importance  un- 
til after  the  introduction  of  the  slave  trade.  From  eastern 
Africa  came  gold  dust  and  ivory.  Ormus  poured  out  the 
wealth  of  central  Asia,  while  Malacca  opened  up  the  com- 
merce of  Indo-China.  From  Macao,  near  Canton,  the  hardy 
traders  reached  out  to  Japan.8  This  good  fortune  of  Por- 
tugal proved  the  ruin  of  Venice.  In  desperation  she  freed 
everything  coming  through  Egypt  and  taxed  heavily  every- 
thing coming  via  the  cape,  but  all  in  vain.  The  currents  of 
commerce  had  set  to  other  shores,  never  to  return  to  hers  with 
the  old  strength. 

II 

THE  VOYAGES  OF  COLUMBUS 

The  voyages  of  the  Portuguese  had  been  watched 
with  no  little  interest  by  an  Italian  navigator,  Chris- 
topher Columbus,  who  took  up  his  residence  in  Lisbon 
about  1470,  and  who,  there  is  good  reason  to  believe,  had 
actually  participated  in  some  of  the  Portuguese  maritime 
adventures.9  The  exact  date  of  the  birth  of  Christopher 
Columbus,  or  Colon,  as  he  preferred  to  call  himself,  is  not 
known,  but  many  writers  have  given  1436  as  the  year,  though 
some  favor  a  later  date,  some  an  earlier  one.10     Seven  cities 

s  Cheney,  "  European  Background  of  American  History,'*  ch.  iv. 

9  Channing,  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  i.  p.  12. 

10  Harrisse  and  Winsor  agree  upon  1436  as  the  year ;  Henry  Vignaud  thinks 
1451  more  nearly  correct;  while  Bourne  makes  no  attempt  to  settle  the  question. 


c     t.       t    c 


EXPLORATIONS  45 

claimed  the  honor  of  being  the  birthplace  of  Homer;  not 
less  than  eighteen  Italian  towns  have  claimed  a  similar  honor 
for  Columbus,  but  he  always  referred  to  Genoa  as  the  place 
of  his  nativity,  and  nearly  all  scholars  have  agreed  in  award- 
ing the  honor  to  Genoa.     Little  is  known  of  his  boyhood. 


Copyright,  1905,  by  John  D.  Morris  &  Company 
Christopher  Columbus 
The   so-called   "  Yanez "   portrait   in   the   National 
Library  of  Madrid 

but  it  probably  was  spent  in  helping  his  father,  who  was  n 
wool  comber.  While  not  possessed  of  wealth,  his  father  was 
able  to  give  him  a  respectable  education.  Beyond  the  com- 
mon studies  he  learned  something  of  Latin,  the  higher 
mathematics  and  astronomy,  while  cosmography  and  nautical 
science  were  objects  of  study  with  him  all  his  life  and  he 
knew  as  much  about  them  as  any  man  of  his  age. 

Genoa,  like  her  rival  Venice,  was  a  seafaring  state,  and  it 
was  only  natural  that  Columbus  should  take  to  the  Mediter- 


46 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


ranean.  His  first  voyage  was  made  when  he  was  but  a  lad 
of  fourteen ;  as  he  grew  older  he  was  much  at  sea,  sometimes 
in  commercial  adventures,  sometimes  in  the  service  of  his 
native  city  in  her  naval  struggles  with  her  Italian  rivals. 
Doubtless  the  fame  of  Lisbon  as  the  center  of  nautical 

science  and  marine  adventures 
attracted  him  to  that  place. 
Here  he  took  to  the  sea  again 
and  visited  the  Cape  Verde 
Islands,  the  Azores,  and  tra- 
dition says  touched  the  coast 
of  Iceland.  When  not  at  sea 
he  spent  his  time  in  study  and 
in  making  maps  and  charts. 
A  few  years  after  reaching 
Lisbon  he  married,  a  step 
which  promoted  his  ambition, 
his  wife's  father  having  been 
a  great  navigator  and  having 
left  many  maps  and  charts. 
Until  recently  historians  have  accepted  the  statement 
that  Columbus  corresponded  with  the  great  Florentine  as- 
tronomer Toscanelli,  who  sent  him  a  map  of  the  world  on 
which  Europe  and  Asia  were  represented  as  separated  only 
by  an  ocean,  and  expressed  the  belief  that  India  could  be 
reached  by  sailing  westward  from  Europe.  But  lately  this 
story  has  been  attacked  and  rendered  more  than  doubtful. 
Whether  he  ever  received  a  letter  and  map  from  Toscanelli 
or  not,  it  is  only  reasonable  to  suppose  that  he  was  familiar 
with  the  teachings  of  a  man  so  well  known,  although  he  no- 
where makes  mention  of  him.11  Certain  it  is  that  he  was 
familiar  with  the  geographical  writings  of  Ptolemy,  Roger 

11  For  a  scholarly  discussion  of  the  controversy  concerning  the  Toscanelli  map 
see  E.  G.  Bourne,  "  Spain  in  America,"  pp.  12-15.     This  author  does  not,  as  does 


Paolo  Toscanelli 

After  Giorgio  Vassari's  copy  of  the 

painting  by  Alessio  Baldovinetti 

in  the  Palazzo   della  Signoria, 

Florence,    Italy 


EXPLORATIONS  47 

Bacon,  Marco  Polo,  whose  book  made  a  lasting  impression 
on  his  mind,  iEneas  Sylvius,  later  Pope  Pius  II.,  and  also 
with  Pierre  d'Ailly's  "  Imago  Mundi,"  an  encyclopaedic  com- 
pilation printed  between  1480  and  1483,  and  on  a  copy  of 
which  at  Seville  one  may  still  read  marginal  notes  of  a 
highly  critical  character  in  what  appears  to  be  the  handwrit- 
ing of  Columbus.12  If,  as  these  books  taught,  the  world  was 
round,  why  could  not  India,  only  about  three  thousand  miles 
away  to  the  west,  as  Toscanelli  and  he  believed,  be  found  by 
sailing  westward? 

The  idea  that  India  could  be  reached  by  sailing  to  the 
west  was  not  original  with  Columbus,  but  he  towers  above 
the  men  of  his  age  and  all  the  preceding  ages  in  that  he  was 
the  first  man  who  was  willing  to  risk  his  fortune  and  his  life 
to  prove  the  theory: 

"  What  if  wise  men  as  far  back  as  Ptolemy, 
Judged  that  the  earth  like  an  orange  was  round. 
None  of  them  ever  said  '  Come  along,  follow  me, 
Sail  to  the  West,  and  the  East  will  be  found/  " 

It  remained  for  Columbus  to  take  the  lead  and  demon- 
strate the  theories  propounded  by  others.  The  undertaking, 
however,  was  too  great  for  him  alone,  and  he  applied  to 
King  John  II.,  of  Portugal.  When  the  king  consulted  his 
wise  men  they  condemned  the  scheme  as  that  of  a  dreamer. 
But  the  king  remembered  Henry  the  Navigator,  and 
thought  that  there  might  be  something  in  the  scheme.  How- 
Henry  Vignaud,  deny  the  authenticity  of  the  correspondence  between  Columbus 
and  the  astronomor,  but  insists  that  even  if  the  letters  were  genuine  they  con- 
tained no  information  which  was  not  already  known  to  Columbus.  Channing,  vol. 
i.  p.  17,  inclines  to  the  same  view,  while  Sir  C.  R.  Markham  in  his  "  Journal  of 
Columbus,"  pp.  1-10,  goes  to  the  other  extreme. 

12  E.  G.  Bourne,  "Spain  in  America,"  p.  10.  Channing,  "History  of  the 
United  States,"  vol.  i.  p.  15,  is  disposed  to  minimize  the  influence  of  the  ancient 
theories  on  Columbus,  and  asserts  that  he  had  already  reached  his  conclusions 
with  regard  to  the  sphericity  of  the  earth  before  reading  d'Ailly's  "Imago 
Mundi." 


48  THE    UNITED    STATES 

ever,  he  wished  to  gain  all  the  glory  himself,  and  sent  out  a 
secret  expedition  with  directions  to  follow  the  plans  of 
Columbus.  The  only  result  was  to  drive  Columbus  in  dis- 
gust from  Portugal  to  Spain. 

At  this  time  the  Spanish  nation  was  in  the  formative 
period.  The  two  most  important  Christian  kingdoms  of  the 
peninsula  were  united  in  1469  by  the  marriage  of  Ferdinand 
of  Aragon  and  Isabella  of  Castile.  When  Columbus  ar- 
rived, these  two  sovereigns  were  busily  engaged  in  carrying 
out  their  determination  to  add  the  Moorish  kingdom  to 
their  own;  consequently  it  was  difficult  for  him  to  reach  the 
royal  ears.  But  as  they  pursued  the  enemy  Columbus  pur- 
sued them  from  Cordova  to  Salamanca,  to  Malaga,  and  back 
again  to  Cordova.  Here,  as  in  Portugal,  the  wise  men  were 
consulted;  some  favored,  others  condemned  the  project. 
Powerful  friends  at  the  royal  court  took  up  his  cause.  The 
sovereigns  expressed  a  real  interest  in  it,  but  their  answer 
was  always  the  same, — To-morrow,  when  the  war  is  over. 
After  six  or  seven  years  of  fruitless  effort,  Columbus  at 
last  despaired  of  securing  aid  in  that  quarter  and  decided 
to  leave  Spain,  although  he  never  for  once  wavered  in  his 
belief  and  purpose.  His  brother  Bartholomew  had  already 
gone  to  England  to  seek  the  needed  help  from  Henry  VII. 

But  at  last  the  sovereigns  of  Spain  were  moved  to 
action.  Weary  and  footsore  with  the  journey  afoot,  Co- 
lumbus stopped  at  the  monastery  of  La  Rabida  to  ask  for 
bread  and  water  for  his  child,  whom  he  had  taken  with  him 
on  leaving  the  rest  of  his  family  behind  in  Portugal.13  The 
prior,  Father  Juan  Perez,  formerly  confessor  to  the  queen, 
heard  his  story  and  believed  it.  At  the  entreaties  of  these 
and  other  influential  personages  at  court  she  agreed  to  hear 
the  story  once  more  and  sent  the  Genoese  adventurer  a  sum 

is  Winsor,  "  Columbus  and  His  Discoveries  "  in  M  Nar.  and  Crit.  Hist."  vol. 
ii.  p.  5. 


c       c    c     e*    »' 


EXPLORATIONS 


51 


of  money  with  which  to  array  himself  properly  before  com- 
ing into  her  presence.  Shortly  after  his  arrival  he  witnessed 
the  fall  of  Granada  (January  2,  1492),  and  saw  Boabdil 
pass  out  the  gates  and  pause  to  weep  over  the  city  while  his 


Celt,  of  Friar  Juan  Perez  de  Marchena  in  the  Cloister 
of  La  Rabid  a 

mother  upbraided  him  with  the  loss  of  an  empire  which  the 
Moslem  had  conquered  for  him  eight  centuries  before. 

The  Moorish  war  over  at  last,  Ferdinand  and  Isabella 
had  realized  their  dream  of  a  united  Spain  and  were  ready 
to  hear  this  dreamer  tell  of  rich  realms  beyond  the  Sea  of 
Darkness,  which  should  also  be  theirs.  But  Columbus  would 
exact  hard  conditions.  First  of  all  he  must  be  a  grandee 
and  admiral  of  the  ocean  and  viceroy  of  all  the  heathen  lands 
he  might  discover.  One-eighth  of  the  gold  and  silver  from 
such  lands  should  be  his,  as  also  one-tenth  of  the  profits  by 
trade  or  conquest.  In  return  he  would  bear  one-eighth  of 
the  expense.  The  conditions  were  rejected  and  Columbus 
again  turned  his  face  toward  foreign  lands,  but  the  Mar- 
chioness de  Moya,  at  the  time  a  confidential  friend  of  the 
queen,  now  appealed  to  her  in  his  behalf,  and  she  at  length 
consented  to  give  the  aid  desired. 

Three  vessels  of  the  caravel  class  were  finally  fitted  out, 


52  THE    UNITED    STATES 

the  Santa  Maria,  the  Pinta,  and  the  Nina,  all  of  them  very 
small,  so  small,  indeed,  that  one  would  be  considered  fool- 
hardy should  he  venture  to  cross  the  ocean  in  such  craft  to- 
day. Securing  a  crew  was  no  easy  task,  and  for  a  time  it 
looked  as  if  the  government  would  be  compelled  to  use 
force  by  impressing  seamen  and  releasing  criminals  for  that 


The   Caravels  of   Columbus 


purpose;  but  through  the  influence  of  the  powerful  Pinzon 
family  a  crew  was  finally  obtained  without  resorting  to  con- 
scription or  emptying  the  jails.  The  expense  of  the  voyage 
was  borne  by  the  queen,  Louis  and  Anne,  and  Columbus 
himself,  the  total  amount  aggregating  according  to  careful 
estimates  about  $100,000.14  A  metallurgist  was  taken  along 
to  test  the  gold  they  felt  sure  of  finding.    In  all  there  were 

"Thatcher,  "Christopher  Columbus,"  vol.  i.  p.  490. 


EXPLORATIONS  53 

ninety  souls.15  Friday  morning,  August  3,  1492,  they 
weighed  anchor  at  Palos  and  set  out  on  a  voyage  from  which 
few  of  those  who  either  went  or  remained  behind  believed 
they  would  ever  return.  Something  was  known  of  the  vol- 
canoes of  the  Mediterranean,  especially  of  Mt.  iEtna,  yet 
the  eruption  of  Mt.  Teneriffe  on  one  of  the  Canaries  threw 
them  into  consternation.  The  deflection  of  the  needle  from 
the  north  star  alarmed  the  pilots;  they  were  unacquainted 
with  the  trade  winds  and  the  constant  blowing  of  these  from 
one  direction  brought  on  the  fear  that  they  would  never 
change. 

But  no  terror  could  shake  the  purpose  of  the  admiral, 
and  he  kept  on  his  way  undisturbed.  The  strain  gradually 
became  greater,  and  soon  there  were  grumblings  and  plot- 
tings  to  throw  the  admiral  overboard  or  otherwise  dispose  of 
him.  But  they  were  quieted  by  the  soothing  promises  of 
their  captain,  who  reminded  them  of  their  rewards  in  case 
of  success,  and  further  declared  his  unalterable  purpose  to 
continue  to  the  end.  Week  after  week  passed  with  no  sight 
of  land,  though  tropical  birds  flying  overhead  and  floating 
seaweed  raised  the  hope  that  it  was  not  far  off.  On  Septem- 
ber 25,  Pinzon,  who  commanded  the  Pinta,  raised  the  cry, 
"Land,  land!"  The  night  was  spent  in  rejoicing  and 
giving  thanks  to  God,  but  the  next  morning  the  land  had  dis- 
appeared— it  was  only  a  mirage.  The  crew  became  more  and 
more  convinced  that  they  were  venturing  into  a  world 
of  enchantment,  where  hope  was  held  out  only  to  lure 
them  on  to  destruction.  Columbus  himself  was  puzzled. 
He  had  supposed  that  twenty-five  hundred  miles  of  sail- 
ing would  bring  him  to  Cipango,  yet  he  had  sailed  twenty- 
seven  hundred  miles  only  to  find  himself  still  on  the  Sea 

is  This  is  the  number  given  by  Las  Casas;  Oviedo  says  the  number  was  120; 
among  the  crew  were  the  three  Pinzon  brothers,  Juan  de  la  Cosa,  the  most  famous 
pilot  and  cartographer  of  the  age,  a  Jewish  interpreter  and  two  Englishmen. 


54  THE    UNITED    STATES 

of  Darkness.  October  7  Pinzon  induced  him  to  change 
his  course  to  the  southwest.  The  many  small  birds 
flying  in  that  direction  held  out  the  hope  that  land  was 
to  be  found  in  that  quarter.  Four  days  later  the  signs 
of  land  were  so  unmistakable  that  not  even  the  muti- 
nous crew  could  doubt  any  longer.  That  night  not  an 
eye  was  closed  in  sleep,  but  everyone  was  steadily  gazing 
forward  in  the  hope  of  descrying  land.  About  ten  o'clock 
the  admiral,  standing  on  the  top  of  the  castle  of  the  Santa 
Maria  and  eagerly  peering  into  the  darkness,  saw  a  light  in 
the  distance  describing  a  waving  line  as  though  carried  by 
someone  walking.  When  the  dawn  came,  October  12,  1492 
(old  style) ,  it  revealed  a  coast  line  covered  with  trees,  only  a 
few  miles  distant. 

Many  natives,  "  as  naked  as  when  their  mother  bore 
them,"  had  gathered  on  the  shore  to  watch  the  caravels,  which 
they  took  to  be  white-winged  birds.  As  Columbus,  clad  in 
scarlet  and  carrying  the  standard  of  Spain,  made  for  the 
shore  accompanied  by  Pinzon  and  a  few  others,  they  fled  in 
terror.  On  reaching  the  land  the  admiral  burst  into  tears, 
kissed  the  ground  and  gave  thanks  to  God  for  the  supposed 
realization  of  his  long  cherished  dream.  Drawing  his  sword, 
he  took  possession  in  the  name  of  the  sovereigns  of  Spain. 
The  natives  called  the  island  Guanahani;  Columbus  called 
it  San  Salvador  (Holy  Savior) .  It  was  one  of  the  Bahama 
group,  probably  Watling  Island.16 

Columbus  supposed  that  he  was  in  the  Indies,  not  far 
from  some  of  the  great  cities  of  the  Grand  Khan.  The 
naked  savages  did  not  correspond  to  the  descriptions  of 
Marco  Polo,  nevertheless  he  called  them  "  Indians,"  a  name 
which  the  aboriginal  inhabitants  of  America  have  ever  since 
borne.     Cathay  could  not  be  far  away,  still  he  would  not 

i«Markham,  "Life  of  Columbus,"  p.   100  et  seq.     For  contrary  views  see 
biographies  of  Columbus  by  Harrisse  and  Winsor, 


EXPLORATIONS  55 

trust  to  them  for  delivering  his  letter  to  the  Grand  Khan. 
"  Directly  I  reached  the  Indies  in  the  first  isle  I  discovered," 
says  Columbus,  "  I  took  by  force  some  of  the  natives  that 
from  them  we  might  gain  some  information  of  what  there 
was  in  these  parts;  and  so  it  was  that  we  understood  each 
other,  either  by  words  or  signs."  When  asked  where  gold 
was  to  be  found  they  always  pointed  to  the  south. 

Leaving  San  Salvador,  Columbus  cruised  about  for 
several  weeks  and  discovered  Cuba  and  Hayti;  the  latter 
he  named  Hispaniola.  On  the  shoals  of  the  latter  his  largest 
vessel,  the  Santa  Maria,  was  wrecked.  Columbus  then  be- 
thought himself  of  home  and  the  wonderful  story  he  had  to 
relate  to  his  sovereign.  The  material  of  the  wrecked  vessel 
was  used  to  construct  a  rude  building  in  which  forty-four 
men,  supplied  with  food,  seed  and  tools,  agreed  to  remain 
and  await  the  return  of  the  admiral;  the  rest  embarked  for 
Spain,  January  4,  taking  ten  of  the  natives,  a  quantity  of 
gold  and  other  trophies  with  them.17  The  return  voyage 
was  stormy  and  eventful.  The  two  vessels  were  driven  apart 
to  meet  no  more  until  they  sailed  into  the  harbor  of  Palos 
on  the  same  day,  March  15,  1493,  only  a  few  hours  apart, 
Thus  was  completed  the  most  momentous  voyage  in  all  his- 
tory. Had  Columbus  reached  India  and  opened  up  a  new 
route  to  the  ancient  civilization  of  Cathay,  it  would  have 
been  a  great  accomplishment ;  but  he  had  done  vmore  than 
this;  he  had  discovered  a  new  world  without  knowing  it,  one 
where  civilization  was  to  gain  a  new  foothold,  take  on  new 
life  and  advance  by  leaps  and  bounds  such  as  it  had  never 
known  before. 

Columbus  soon  informed  the  king  and  queen  of  his 
return,  and,  after  having  given  due  notice  of  his  discovery 
to  the  Pope,  they  at  once  commanded  his  presence  at  Bar- 
celona.   The  news  of  his  return  rapidly  spread ;  the  country 

it  Bourne,  "  Spain  in  America,"  p.  27. 


56 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


was  wild  with  enthusiasm,  the  whole  population  turned  out 
to  greet  him,  and  his  journey  hither  was  a  triumphal  march. 
His  reception  by  the  king  and  queen  was  made  a  great 
state  occasion,  perhaps  the  greatest  Spain  had  ever  known, 
and  Columbus  was  accorded  the  highest  distinction  that 
could  be  shown  to  a  Spanish  subject;  yet  he  is  said  to  have 
borne  these  honors  with  all  due  modesty. 

As  Spain  was  now  becoming  the  rival  of  Portugal  as 
a  claimant  for  lands  hitherto  unknown,  something  had  to 
be  done  to  prevent  disputes  from  arising.  A  very  simple 
solution  was  found  by  appealing  to  Pope  Alexander  VI., 
who  issued  two  bulls,  May  3  and  4,  1493,  establishing  a 
"  Line  of  Demarcation,"  or,  in  modern  phrase,  creating  two 
spheres  of  influence  in  which  the  right  of  discovery  would 


Copyright,  1905,  by  John  D.  Morris  &  Company 

The  Landing  of  Columbus  at  Espanola 
After  one  of  the  earliest  leaflets,  printed  at  Basle,  1494 

give  unquestioned  title.  At  first  this  imaginary  line  was 
drawn  from  pole  to  pole  one  hundred  leagues  west  of  the 
Azores  and  Cape  Verde  Islands;  Portugal  to  have  all  the 
lands  east  of  the  line,  and  Spain  those  to  the  west.  There 
was  dissatisfaction  with  the  arrangement,  however,  and  in 
consequence  it  was  agreed  by  the  treaty  of  Tordesillas  be- 
tween Spain  and  Portugal,  June  7,  1494,  that  the  line  of  de- 


EXPLORATIONS  59 

marcation  should  be  changed  to  370  leagues  west  of  the 
Cape  Verde  Islands.18  This  gave  Spain  all  the  New  World 
except  the  eastern  part  of  Brazil,  assigned  to  Portugal — a 
very  simple  arrangement  if  only  the  rest  of  the  world  would 
acquiesce. 

Columbus  was  now  eager  for  a  second  voyage,  and 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella  were  no  less  eager  to  have  him  go, 
for  he  had  promised  them  all  the  gold,  spices,  cotton,  mastic 
and  lignaloe  they  desired  and  as  many  slaves  as  they  cared 
to  send  for,  all  heathens.  On  September  25,  1493,  the  ad- 
miral, accompanied  by  his  brother  Bartholomew  and  Ponce 
de  Leon,  of  later  fame,  set  out  from  Cadiz  with  seventeen 
vessels  and  1500  men,  soldiers,  missionaries,  artisans,  etc., 
and  once  more  turned  his  face  to  the  west.  Brood  mares, 
sheep,  cattle,  farm  implements,  tools,  seed  and  all  the  para- 
phernalia of  colony  planting  were  taken  along  with  the  evi- 
dent intention  of  making  a  permanent  settlement  in  the  New 
World.  He  first  sought  out  the  little  colony  of  forty- four 
men  left  behind  on  his  first  voyage,  but  found  no  record  of 
them  save  their  bones,  which  lay  bleaching  in  the  tropical 
sun.  Not  a  man  had  survived.  But  the  undaunted  admiral 
founded  another  colony,  this  time  in  San  Domingo,  Decem- 
ber, 1493,  and  spent  three  years  in  cruising  about  and  ex- 
ploring the  islands  of  the  West  Indies,  as  they  later  came  to 
be  called.  He  returned  to  Spain  in  December,  1496,  leaving 
his  brother  Bartholomew  in  control  of  the  colony  at 
Espanola.  On  a  third  voyage  (1498)  he  discovered  Trin- 
idad and  anchored  in  the  mouth  of  the  Orinoco,  where  he  first 
beheld  the  mainland  of  the,  as  yet,  unnamed  continent.  The 
magnitude  of  the  river  and  the  luxuriant  growth  of  the 
tropical  forest  led  him  to  think  that  this  might  be  one  of  the 
great  rivers  of  the  Garden  of  Eden  mentioned  in  the  Bible. 

The  great  explorer  had  tasted  of  adversity  and  had 
drunk  of  the  cup  of  the  highest  success,  but  his  last  days 

is  Thatcher,  "  Life  of  Columbus,"  vol.  ii.  pp.  124  et  seq. 


60 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


were  to  be  like  unto  his  first.  Malice,  hatred,  and  envy  had 
done  their  work  at  home,  where  jealous  enemies  had  belittled 
his  discoveries  and  represented  to  the  king  and  queen  that 
he  was  a  tyrant  incapable  of  governing  colonies.  A  viceroy 
was  sent  out  to  investigate.  He  exceeded  his  instructions 
and  sent  Columbus  home  in  irons.  The  story  of  his  wrongs 
and  the  sight  of  his  sufferings  moved  the  queen  to  tears. 


Copyright,  1905,  by  John  D.  Morris  &  Company 


Columbus  Returning  to  Spain  in  Chains 
Painting  by  Marechal,  Paris  Salon,  1857 

He  was  released  and  restored  to  royal  favor,  but  was  not 
reinstated  in  his  position  as  governor  of  the  colony,  and,  if 
the  truth  must  be  told,  he  was  ill-fitted  for  the  position.  A 
fourth  voyage,  in  the  course  of  which  he  discovered  the  coast 
of  Honduras,  added  little  to  his  fame.  With  indomitable 
spirit  he  kept  planning  still  greater  things  for  the  country 
which  repaid  him  only  with  neglect;  but  old  age,  anxiety  and 


EXPLORATIONS  61 

exposure  had  broken  his  strength.  May  20,  1506,  he 
breathed  his  last  at  Valladolid,  without  knowing  that  he  had 
discovered  a  New  World,  and  before  he  had  realized  how 
utter  was  the  wreck  of  his  hope  and  ambitions.19 

The  simple  arrangement  of  Spain  and  Portugal  by 
which  the  choicest  domains  of  the  world  were  parceled  out 
between  them  was  not  acquiesced  in  by  the  rest  of  Europe. 
Henry  VII.  of  England,  in  particular,  was  chagrined  at 
having  let  the  prize  slip  from  his  grasp  by  refusing  the  aid 
which  Columbus  had  asked,  and  now  when  John_Cabott  a 
naturalized  citizen  of  Venice  of  the  Jersey  Norman  race, 
and,  like  the  great  discoverer,  born  in  Genoa,  applied  for 
permission  to  search  for  the  all-sea  route  to  India,  the  request 
was  readily  granted.  The  permit,  dated  March  5,  1496, 
granted  to  the  patentees  and  their  assigns  forever  the  exclu- 
sive right  of  frequenting  all  the  countries  they  might  dis- 
cover, in  return  for  which  the  king  was  to  receive  one-fifth 
of  all  their  gains  and  Bristol  was  to  be  their  only  port  of 
entry.  Thus  was  begun  the  system  of  commercial  restriction 
which  ended  only  with  the  revolution,  nearly  three  hundred 
years  later. 

The  voyage  was  delayed  over  a  year,  but  finally  in 
May,  1497,  Cabot,  with  a  single  vessel  and  eighteen  men,  set 
sail  from  Bristol  on  his  perilous  quest.  The  patent  included 
Cabot's  three  sons,  but  it  is  not  definitely  known  whether 
any  of  them  sailed  with  him  or  not,  although  it  is  probable 
that  Sebastian  went.  In  June,  1497,  Cabot  landed  some- 
where on  the  coast  of  Labrador  or  about  the  mouth  of  the 
St.  Lawrence  River,  possibly  on  Cape  Breton  Island  or 
Newfoundland,  believing,  of  course,  that  he  had  reached 
the  shores  of  the  territory  of  the  Grand  Khan.  After  an 
absence  of  only  three  months,  during  which  time  he  sailed 
along  the  coast  for  some  300  leagues  without  seeing  an  in- 

19  Channing,  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  i.  p.  25. 


62 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


habitant  or  attempting  to  land,20  he  returned  to  England, 
where  he  was  given  a  popular  reception  very  much  like  that 
accorded  to  Columbus  in  Spain,  and  was,  moreover,  re- 
warded with  a  pension  of  £20  per  year.     The  following 


Henry   VII.  of  England 

Painting  by  an  unknown  Flemish  artist  in  the  National 

Portrait  Gallery,  London 

year  (1498)  he  made  a  second  voyage  and  coasted  down  the 
shore  of  the  United  States  as  far  as  Cape  Hatteras,  some 
say  to  Florida,  again  believing  that  he  was  on  the  shore  of 
Cipango  or  Cathay.21  These  voyages  were  the  basis  of  the 
English  claim  to  North  America. 

soWeare,  "Cabot's  Discovery,"  p.  143    et  seq. 

21  Bancroft,  "History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  i.  pp.  10-14;  Channing, 
"History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  i.  p.  34;  Fiske,  "Discovery  of  America," 
vol.  ii.  ch.  vii. 


EXPLORATIONS 


63 


Such  is  the  story  now  generally  accepted  by  historians. 
For  many  years  the  credit  for  these  voyages,  or  a  least  the 
second,  was  accorded  to  Sebastian  Cabot,  but  it  now  seems 
certain  that  his  father  commanded  both.22  Sebastian  was 
a  great  navigator,  later  became  chief  hydrographer  to  the 
king  of  Spain,  and  probably  began  that  fruitless  search  for 
a  northwest  passage  to  India  in  which  so  many  fortunes 


Amerigo  Vespucci 

and  lives  were  lost;  but  the  glory  of  discovering  North 
America  belongs  to  his  father,  John  Cabot.  These  voyages 
created  a  good  deal  of  excitement  in  England,  but  brought 
no  gold  and  the  excitement  soon  died  down. 

As  mariner  after  mariner  sailed  into  the  west,  it  at 
last  dawned  upon  Europe  that  a  new  world  had  been  found. 
The  first  to  use  this  term  was  Amerigo  Vespucci,  or  Amer- 
icus  Vespucius,  another  Italian,  a  native  of  Florence,  but 
resident  at  Seville,  who  had  made  at  least  four  voyages 

22  Winsor,  "  Nar.  and  Crit.  Hist.,"  vol.  iii.  p.  31 ;  Bourne,  "  Spain  in  America," 
pp.  60-61 ;  Harrisse,  "  American  Historical  Review,"  vol.  iii.  p.  448. 


64  THE    UNITED    STATES 

across  the  Atlantic  between  1499  and  1503.  His  account  of 
the  "  New  World  "  (Mundus  Novus),  published  in  a  pam- 
phlet and  translated  into  many  languages,  created  some- 
thing of  a  sensation  in  Europe,  for  he  asserted  that  the  new 
continent  was  more  populous  and  more  desirable  as  a  place 
in  which  to  live  than  either  Europe,  Asia,  or  Africa.  The 
fame  of  Columbus  was  already  in  eclipse.  In  1507  a  Ger- 
man professor,  Waedseemiiller,  in  a  little  college  of  St. 
Die  in  Lorraine,  the  same  place  at  which  Cardinal  d'Ailly 
had  written  his  "  Imago  Mundi,"  published  a  pamphlet  en- 
titled "  Cosmographic  Introductions,"  in  which  he  suggested 
that  this  New  World  be  called  America,  in  honor  of  its  dis- 
coverer, Americus  Vespucius.  The  same  year  he  used  the 
name  on  a  map  which  is  still  to  be  seen  at  Wiirtemburg. 
Gradually  the  name  found  favor,  and  though  applied  only 
to  Brazil  at  first,  was  at  last  applied  to  all  the  western  world. 
There  is  no  evidence  that  either  the  professor  or  Vespucius 
had  any  thought  of  depriving  Columbus  of  honors  justly 
due  to  him,  and  the  latter  in  fact  was  a  friend  of  the 
admiral.23 


Ill 

SPANISH     EXPLORATIONS 

Natives  of  Italy  under  the  patronage  of  Spain  had 
begun  the  work  of  exploration  in  the  west;  the  Spanish 
and  Portuguese  now  took  it  up  and  carried  it  on  with  vigor. 
The  chief  motive  back  of  this  activity  was  the  "  cursed  thirst 
for  gold."     Marlow,  in  his  "  Faust,"  well  expressed  the 

23Winsor,  "Amerigo  Vespucci,"  in  "  Nar.  and  Crit.  Hist.,"  vol.  ii.  ch.  2. 
For  a  scholarly  discussion  of  the  controversy  concerning  the  naming  of  America, 
see  Bourne,  "Spain  in  America,"  ch.  vii.  and  Fiske,  "Discovery  of  America," 
pp.  130-170. 


EXPLORATIONS  65 

spirit  of  the  age.  On  learning  that  he  has  power  to  com- 
mand spirits,  Faustus  exclaims : 

"  I'll  have  them  fly  to  India  for  gold, 
Ransack  the  ocean  for  orient  pearl, 
And  search  all  corners  of  the  new-found  world 
For  pleasant  fruits  and  princely  delicates." 

The  love  of  adventure  was  a  powerful  motive  force,  as 
was  the  sincere  desire  to  convert  the  heathen,  but  gold,  gold, 
gold  was  always  the  cry. 

The  year  1513  saw  Vasco  Nunez  de  Balboa,  a  bankrupt 
in  both  fortune  and  patriotism,  searching  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama  (probably  within  the  canal  zone  acquired  in  1904  by 
the  United  States)  for  gold  with  which  to  satisfy  his  credi- 
tors, from  whom  he  was  a  fugitive,  and  a  discovery  that 
would  atone  for  his  treason.  Accompanied  by  one  hundred 
and  ninety-five  picked  Spaniards,  besides  several  hundred 
Indian  porters  and  dogs,  he  set  out,  September  1,  on  what  is 
now  regarded  as  a  wonderful  expedition,  made  as  it  was 
through  well-nigh  impenetrable  thickets,  tangled  swamps 
and  marshes  reeking  with  deadly  malaria.  Led  on  by 
the  report  of  an  Indian  that  the  yellow  metal  abounded 
beyond  the  mountains  in  the  lands  bordering  upon  a  great 
sea,  in  such  quantities  that  the  commonest  utensils  were 
made  of  it,  he  climbed  a  lofty  peak,  and,  on  the 
morning  of  September  25,  1513,  straining  his  eyes  to  the 
south,  beheld  a  broad  expanse  of  water,  which  he  called  the 
South  Sea,  which,  together  with  the  adjacent  coasts  and 
islands,  he  took  possession  of  in  the  name  of  his  master,  the 
King  of  Spain.  This  was  the  most  important  discovery 
since  that  of  Columbus,  and  aroused  intense  interest  in 
Spain.  Balboa's  career,  however,  had  a  sad  ending,  for  four 
years  later  he  was  put  to  death  by  a  jealous  and  suspicious 
governor,  Pedrarias  Davila. 


66 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


Six  years  later  Ferdinand  Magellan,  a  native  of  Portu- 
gal, but  sailing  under  the  banner  of  Spain,  his  adopted 
country,  set  out  with  five  old,  half -rotten  vessels  and  about 
two  hundred  and  fifty  men,  a  considerable  portion  of 
whom  were  worthless  adventurers,  if  not  downright  rascals, 
to    find    a    water    passage    to    the    South    Sea.      Sailing 

^^  from  Spain  in  the  autumn 
of  1519  (September  20),  he 
reached  the  straits  which 
now  bear  his  name  thirteen 
months  later,  after  having 
long  suffered  the  pangs  of 
hunger  on  account  of  short 
rations,  and  after  experi- 
encing a  mutiny  of  the 
crew  which  was  put  down 
in  cold  blood.  Leaving  the 
straits  he  entered  the 
boundless  ocean — the  Mar 
Pacifico — and  steering 
northwestward  struck  out 
boldly  in  search  of  new 
lands.  Days,  weeks,  and 
months  passed  with  nothing 
in  sight  but  the  prospects  of  starvation.  Soon  the 
crew  had  to  be  put  on  half  rations  and  presently  the  few 
rats  that  infested  the  ships  were  luxuries  at  half  a  ducat 
each.  Living  on  wormy  crumbs  and  soaked  ox  leather  they 
managed  to  keep  alive  until  the  island  of  Guam  was  reached. 
Finally,  in  April,  1521,  they  sighted  the  now  familiar  island 
of  Samar,  belonging  to  the  Philippine  group;  but  a  month 
later  Magellan  was  killed  in  a  fight  with  the  natives.  One 
of  the  ships,  the  Victoria,  finally  succeeded  in  rounding  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and,  after  an  absence  of  three  years, 


Fernao  de  Magalhoes 

Usually   called    Magellan 

After  an  engraving  by  F.  Selma 


EXPLORATIONS  67 

reached  Spain  with  thirty-one  survivors.  At  last  the  earth 
had  been  circumnavigated  and  the  globular  theory  proven 
forever  beyond  further  question.  The  voyage  thus  ended, 
says  Fiske,24  was  doubtless  the  greatest  feat  of  navigation 
that  has  ever  been  performed,  and  nothing  can  be  imag- 
ined that  would  surpass  it  except  a  journey  to  some  other 
planet.25 

In  the  case  of  Ponce  de  Leon,  another  Spanish  explorer, 
to  the  thirst  for  gold  was  added  the  thirst  for  eternal  youth. 
Ponce  de  Leon  was  an  intrepid  warrior  and  explorer,  who 
had  come  out  with  Columbus  on  his  second  voyage  in  1493. 
Learning  of  an  Indian  tradition  concerning  a  wonderful 
fountain  situated  on  an  island  called  Bimini,  somewhere  to 
the  north  of  San  Domingo,  whose  waters,  if  drunk,  restored 
the  drinker  to  eternal  youth,  he  secured  permission  from  the 
king  to  go  in  quest  of  it,  and,  in  March,  1513,  he  sailed 
from  Porto  Rico  for  the  north.  On  the  27th  of  the  same 
month,  it  being  Easter  Sunday  (Spanish,  Pascual  Florida),, 
he  came  in  sight  of  land  and  anchored  off  the  site  of  the 
future  city  of  St.  Augustine.  In  honor  of  the  day  he  named 
the  country  Florida.  In  vain  did  he  search  for  the  fabled 
fountain  and  treasures  of  gold.  Coasting  around  the  penin- 
sula in  his  futile  quest,  he  returned  to  Porto  Rico.  Eight 
years  later  he  returned  and  tried  to  make  a  settlement,  the 
first  attempt  within  the  borders  of  the  United  States;  but  the 
effort  resulted  in  failure,  and,  being  attacked  and  seriously 
wounded  by  the  Indians,  he  sailed  back  to  Cuba,  where  he 
died  after  prolonged  suffering. 

In  1520  Vasquez  de  Ayllon  set  out  from  San  Domingo 
with  two  vessels  in  search  of  slaves  to  work  the  plantations 
and  mines.  He  landed  on  the  coast  of  South  Carolina 
and  by  the  basest  treachery  kidnaped  a  number  of  the 

24  Fiske,  "  Discovery  of  America,*'  ii.  pp.  184-210, 

25  Bourne,  "  Spain  in  America,"  ch.  ix.  - 


68 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


natives.  One  of  his  ships  foundered,  while  the  captives 
on  the  other  sickened  and  died.  He  returned  to  Spain  and 
as  a  reward  for  this  expedition  was  appointed  (1525)  to  con- 
quer Chicora,  as  he  called  Carolina.  Accordingly,  in  June, 
1526,  with  three  vessels  and  some  five  or  six  hundred  men,  de 
Ayllon  set  out  on  his  voyage  of  conquest  and  settlement,  and 
in  due  course  reached  the  coast  of  what  is  now  North  Caro- 
lina or  Virginia.  Here  they 
established  the  settlement  of 
San  Miguel,  on  the  site  of  the 
future  Jamestown  as  some 
historians  contend.  The  col- 
ony, however,  soon  succumbed 
from  a  variety  of  causes,  de 
Ayllon  died,  and  the  survi- 
vors, numbering  about  one 
hundred  and  fifty  persons,  re- 
turned to  San  Domingo. 

The  greatest,  however,  and 
judged  by  modern  standards, 
the  most  infamous  of  the 
Spanish  expeditions  in  the 
New  World,  was  that  of 
Cortes.  A  native  of  Spain, 
Cortes  was  destined  for  the 
law  by  his  parents,  but  he  was 
born  an  adventurer  in  an  age 
of  adventure.  At  19  he  left 
Spain  for  the  New  World.  He  learned  the  art  of  Indian 
warfare  under  Velasquez  in  the  conquest  of  Cuba  (1511), 
and  when  Grijalva  discovered  Mexico  in  1518  Cortes  was 
eager  to  possess  its  cities  of  fabulous  wealth.  The  Mex- 
icans were  far  in  advance  of  the  Indians  on  the  islands  and 
on  the  continent  to  the  north  of  them.    Their  god,  Quetz- 


Ferdinand  Cortes 
After  the  painting  in  the  Hospital  of 
'  Purissima  Concepcion  de 
Jesus,"  Mexico  City 


the 


EXPLORATIONS 


69 


alcoatl,  so  their  tradition  said,  had  taught  them  the  arts  of 
civilization,  but  had  been  forced  to  depart  because  he  in- 
curred the  wrath  of  a  higher  divinity.  On  leaving,  he  prom- 
ised that  he  and  his  descendants  would  revisit  the  Mexicans 
in  after  years.  The  belief  was  now  prevalent  that  the  time 
for  his  return  was  near,  and  when  the  white  man  came,  bear- 
ing thunder  and  lightning  in 
his  hand,  many  were  convinced 
that  the  "  fair  god  "  had  re- 
turned. Montezuma,  the  em- 
peror of  the  Mexicans,  taking 
counsel  of  his  fears,  adopted 
a  half-hearted  policy  marked 
by  friendliness  and  suspicion. 
His  fate  probably  would  not 
have  been  very  different  had 
he  displayed  full  confidence 
in  the  invaders  or  adopted  a 
policy  of  open  hostility. 

Early  in  March,  1519, 
Cortes,  with  a  force  consist- 
ing of  about  500  Spaniards, 
several  cannon,  and  fifteen 
horses,  landed  on  the  east  coast 
of  Mexico  and  at  once  sent 
messengers  bearing  gifts  to  Montezuma.  The  expedition 
then  set  out  for  the  capital  city  of  Montezuma's  dominion.  In 
the  course  of  an  interview  Cortes  told  the  ambassador  that 
"  the  Spaniards  were  troubled  with  a  disease  of  the  heart, 
for  which  gold  was  a  specific  remedy."  That  gold,  which  the 
capital  was  reputed  to  contain,  he  had  determined  to  secure; 
also  to  convert  the  heathen,  either  by  the  mouth  of  the  priest 
or  that  of  the  cannon.  With  our  modern  notions  of  Chris- 
tianity this  sounds  very  strange;  but  in  those  days  religion 


The  Emperor  Montezuma 

Reconstructed    from    data    furnished 

by  the  Ramirez  MSS.  and 

Clavigero's  Research 


70  THE   UNITED   STATES 

was  a  matter  of  faith  rather  than  of  morals.  It  mattered 
not  so  much  how  a  man  lived  if  at  last  he  died  in  the  Church. 
By  diplomacy,  by  aid  of  the  natives,  who  turned  against  the 
Mexican  emperor,  and  by  deceit  and  treachery,  he  at  last 
gained  the  capital  and  got  Montezuma  in  his  power.  By 
profaning  the  temples  in  setting  up  Christian  worship  he 
turned  the  Aztecs  against  him,  and  they  stirred  up  a  revolt 
against  the  tame  submission  of  Montezuma.  Cortes  left 
the  capital  in  fear,  but  soon  returned,  and  in  August,  1521, 
captured  it  after  a  long  siege.  The  number  of  lives  lost, 
mainly  Mexicans,  is  estimated  at  from  120,000  to  240,000. 
The  Spanish  loss  was  small,  as  was  their  gain  in  booty.26 

The  enemies  of  Cortes,  meantime,  were  busy  both  at 
home  and  in  America,  but  Charles  V.  confirmed  his  acts 
and  appointed  him  Captain  General  and  Chief  Justice  of 
New  Spain,  as  that  part  of  the  world  was  called.  The  City 
of  Mexico  was  rebuilt  on  a  grand  scale  and  the  system  of 
repartimientos  was  adopted  by  which  the  Indians  were  as- 
signed in  lots  for  work  on  the  plantations  or  in  the  mines; 
in  other  words,  reduced  to  slavery.  To  the  credit  of  the 
Crown,  be  it  said,  that  a  decree  was  issued  annulling  this,  but 
the  colonists  managed  to  evade  it,  and  the  conversion  of  the 
heathen  went  on  at  a  rapid  rate,  9,000,000,  as  it  was  fanati- 
cally asserted,  in  twenty  years. 

But  it  would  be  unfair  to  judge  Cortes  by  the  standards 
of  to-day.  Prescott,  who  wrote  the  story  of  his  conquest, 
says  that  he  used  no  more  cruelty  than  was  common  at  home 
and  shed  no  more  blood  than  was  necessary  to  effect  the  con- 
quest. The  conversion  of  the  heathen  was  considered  in 
that  day  a  sufficient  justification  for  the  conquest  itself,  and 
there  can  be  little  doubt,  as  Fiske  points  out,  that  after  mak- 

26  Winsor,  "  Cortes  and  His  Companions,"  in  "  Nar.  and  Crit.  Hist.,"  vol.  ii. 
ch.  vi.;  Prescott,  "Conquest  of  Mexico";  Fiske,  "Discovery  of  America,"  vol. 
ii.  pp.  245-293. 


EXPLORATIONS  73 

ing  all  allowances,  the  Spaniards  did  introduce  a  better  state 
of  society  into  Mexico  than  they  found  there,  while  Bourne 
adds  that  Cortes  devoted  his  every  energy  to  the  restoration 
of  the  country  to  peaceful  prosperity. 

Pamfilo  de  Narvaez,  who  had  been  sent  from  Cuba  by 
Valasquez  to  overtake  and  arrest  the  insubordinate  Cortes, 
but  who  had  himself  been  captured,  now  determined  to  look 
farther  north  for  fields  of  conquest,  and  in  1527  secured 
from  the  king  a  grant  of  all  the  gulf  coast  from  Mexico  to 
the  cape  of  Florida.  In  June  of  the  same  year,  with  five  ships 
and  about  six  hundred  persons,  he  set  out  on  the  voyage  and 
landed  at  Tampa  Bay  in  April,  1528.  Directing  his  ships 
to  meet  him  elsewhere,  he  foolishly  pushed  inland  through 
swamps  and  jungles  in  search  of  the  gold  which  unfortu- 
nately was  always  just  a  little  farther  on.  The  fleet  being 
unable  to  find  the  ports  in  accordance  with  Narvaez's  in- 
structions, and,  after  vainly  searching  for  him,  returned  to 
Spain  a  year  later.  The  remnant  of  his  army,  three  hundred 
in  number,  pushed  their  way  along  the  coast  through  forest 
and  swamps,  harassed  by  the  Indians  and  tortured  by  hunger 
and  thirst.  Near  St.  Marks  they  constructed  five  rude  boats 
in  which  the  survivors  (two  hundred  and  forty)  embarked  in 
September  and  painfully  threaded  their  way  along  the  coast, 
one  after  another  of  their  frail  vessels  succumbing  to  the 
winter  storms.  About  eighty  of  their  number,  destitute  and 
enfeebled,  finally  succeeded  in  reaching  an  island  off  the 
coast  of  Texas.  In  the  course  of  the  winter  the  little  band 
was  reduced  by  cold  and  hunger  to  fifteen.  Cabeza  de  Vaca, 
the  treasurer  of  the  expedition  and  a  former  officer  under 
Cortes,  with  three  others,  soon  formed  the  sole  remnant  of 
Narvaez's  band.  After  eight  years  of  wandering  over  the 
inhospitable  country  between  the  Mississippi  River  and  Cali- 
fornia, beaten  by  the  Indians,  suffering  the  tortures  of 
hunger  and  thirst,  at  times  acting  as  "medicine  men,"  they 


74  THE    UNITED    STATES 

finally  reached  the  City  of  Mexico  in  July,  1536.  The 
whole  story  of  their  hardships  and  triumphs,  of  their  per- 
severence  and  courage,  constitutes  one  of  the  most  thrilling 
narratives  in  the  history  of  Spanish  America.27 

The  cupidity  of  the  settlers  in  Mexico  had  been  aroused 
by  rumors  of  wealthy  cities  in  what  is  now  Arizona  and  New 
Mexico,  called  the  "  Seven  Cities  of  Cibola,"  and  several 
expeditions  pushed  out  in  that  direction.  In  1528  Cortes 
sent  out  one  which  coasted  up  the  Pacific  for  three  hundred 
miles.  In  1530  another  entered  the  Gulf  of  California  and 
a  few  years  later  his  lieutenants  were  claiming  the  peninsula 
of  Lower  California  for  Cortes.  There  is  a  tradition  that 
Spanish  vessels  passed  northward  beyond  the  mouth  of  the 
Columbia,  but  there  is  no  authentic  record  of  their  dis- 
coveries. 

The  arrival  at  Mexico  of  de  Vaca  and  his  companions 
aroused  a  new  interest  in  the  "  Seven  Cities  of  Cibola,"  for 
they  declared  that  they  had  seen  them  with  their  own  eyes. 
The  inhabitants  were  said  to  be  so  wealthy  that  their  house- 
hold utensils  were  made  of  gold  and  silver  and  their  door- 
ways studded  with  precious  gems.  Once  more  the  gold- 
hunters  set  out,  this  time  led  by  Vasquez  de  Coronado, 
governor  of  the  northwest  province  of  New  Spain.  With  a 
small  but  picked  band  he  set  out  in  April,  1540,  and,  after 
a  long  and  perilous  march,  in  the  course  of  which  many  of 
their  number  perished  by  the  wayside,  Coronado  reached  the 
first  of  the  fabled  "  Cities,"  only  to  find  a  village  of  thatched 
Indian  pueblos,  very  interesting  to  the  archaeologist  and  eth- 
nologist of  to-day,  but  very  disappointing  to  Coronado,  be- 
cause they  contained  neither  gold  nor  silver.  That  was  a 
little  farther  on,  and  he  pushed  northward  on  the  track  of 
the  will-o'-the-wisp,  but  always  with  the  same  sense  of  dis- 

27  Read  Woodbury  Lowery,  "  Spanish  Settlements  in  America,"  pp.  170  et  seq. 
Also  Smith,  "  Cabeza  de  Vaca." 


EXPLORATIONS 


75 


illusionment.  For  three  years  Coronado  and  his  companions 
thirsted  in  the  mountains  or  toiled  over  trackless  deserts  only 
to  descend  into  valleys  of  hunger  and  despair.  Northward, 
still  northward,  they  pressed,  sometimes  over  plains  "  as  full 
of  crookback  oxen  as  the  mountain  Sierra  in  Spain  is  of 
sheep."  Coronado  at  last, 
after  having  discovered  the 
Grand  Canon  of  Colorado, 
reached  a  great  river,  prob- 
ably the  Platte  or  Missouri, 
and  turned  back  satisfied 
that  the  gold  was  to  be 
found  only  at  the  end  of 
the  rainbow.28  At  length, 
in  the  spring  of  1542,  he 
returned  to  Mexico  greatly 
chagrined  at  having  found 
no  cities  of  gold  and  to  find 
himself  deposed  as  gov- 
ernor for  his  failure. 

One  more  Spanish  ex- 
ploration of  consequence 
deserves  to  be  mentioned, 
that  of  Hernando  de  Soto. 
De  Soto's  career  was  one 
of  the  most  romantic  of 
that  romantic  period.  At  thirty-one  (1531)  he  found  him- 
self second  in  command  to  Pizarro  in  the  conquest  of  Peru, 
an  exploit  even  more  infamous  than  the  conquest  of  Mexico. 
He  indeed  denounced  Pizarro  for  some  of  his  acts,  but  he 
remained  with  the  band  and  carried  away,  not  half  a  mil- 
lion dollars  in  spoils,  as  is  generally  asserted,  but  hardly 

28  Read  Bourne,  "  Travels  of  Coronado,"  2  vols.,  in  the  "  Trail  Makers  Series  "; 
also  Haynes  in  Winsor's  "  Narrative  and  Critical  History,"  vol.  ii.  ch.  7. 


Coronado 

Spanish  Governor  of  New  Galicia  among 
the  Cities  of  Cibola 


76 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


more,  as  Channing  says,  than  a  paltry  hundred  thousand 
ducats.29  While  governor  of  Cuba  in  1538  he  heard  of  Flor- 
ida, and  wished  for  an  opportunity  to  search  that  land  for 
more  treasures.  With  nine  vessels  carrying  about  six  hun- 
dred men  and  over  two  hundred  horses  he  set  sail  from 
Havana  in  May,  1539,  and  in  due  course  landed  on  the 
coast  of  Florida,  but  instead  of  gold,  found  only  hostile 


Ferdinand  De  Soto  Lands  in  the  Bay  of  Espiritu  Santo  in  Florida  in  1539 

Indians,  who  harassed  him  at  every  turn.  Proceeding  north- 
ward to  the  Savannah  River,  De  Soto  then  turned  westward 
and  southward  to  the  fortified  Indian  town  of  Manoila,  near 
the  junction  of  the  Alabama  and  Tombigbee  rivers,  where 
he  was  attacked  and  a  fourth  or  fifth  of  his  men  killed  in  the 
course  of  the  desperate  battle  which  ensued.  Thousands  of 
the  Indians,  if  we  may  believe  the  chroniclers,  were  in  turn 
killed  by  the  Spaniards,  while  the  rest  were  put  to  flight  and 
their  houses  burned.  From  Manoila  De  Soto  marched 
in  a  northwesterly  direction  across  Alabama  and  Missis- 
sippi, fighting  his  way  as  he  went,  finally  reaching  the 

29  Channing,  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  i.  p.  67. 


EXPLORATIONS  77 

Mississippi  River,  near  the  present  site  of  Memphis,  in 
May,  1541.  Crossing  the  river,  he  turned  southward,  and 
after  wandering  far  to  the  west  in  the  vain  quest  for  signs 
of  the  new  El  Dorado,  he  died  May  21,  1542,  and  his  body 
was  buried  in  the  great  river  which  he  is  said  to  have  discov- 
ered, but  which  we  know  de  Vaca  must  have  seen  some  ten 
years  previous.  It  was  altogether,  says  Professor  Bourne, 
the  most  remarkable  expedition  in  the  history  of  North 
America,  though  closely  challenged  by  the  contemporary 
enterprise  of  Coronado,  which  did  for  the  Southwest  what 
De  Soto  did  for  the  eastern  and  central  belt.30 

What  had  this  half  century  of  unparalleled  activity 
given  to  Spain?  In  South  America  she  claimed  practically 
everything  in  view  except  Guiana  and  Brazil,  the  latter  of 
which  Cabral  had  discovered  for  Portugal  in  1500.  In  Mex- 
ico and  the  West  Indies  her  sway  was  undisputed  save  by 
the  savages,  but  as  yet  she  had  no  settlements  within  the  pres- 
ent limits  of  continental  United  States.  Even  at  the  close 
of  the  sixteenth  century  she  had  only  a  few,  the  chief  being 
St.  Augustine  (1565) ,  Santa  Fe  (1598) ,  and  a  chain  of  mis- 
sions reaching  to  the  Gulf  of  California.31  Such,  in  brief, 
were  the  results  of  Spanish  achievement  in  North  America. 

Spain  was  at  her  zenith  at  home  as  well  as  abroad.  At 
the  beginning  of  this  activity  in  exploration  she  was  being 
unified  into  a  national  state  by  Ferdinand  and  Isabella. 
Ferdinand  was  succeeded  by  his  grandson,  Charles  I.,  who, 
on  becoming  German  Emperor  in  1519,  took  the  title  of 
Charles  V.  Actual  ruler  of  Spain,  Austria,  the  Netherlands, 
and  the  two  Sicilies,  and  titular  head  of  all  the  Germans,  he 
yet  took  as  his  motto,  "  Plus  ultra/' 

so  Read  Bourne,  "Spain  in  America,"  p.  168;  also  King,  "De  Soto  in 
Florida";  Winship,  "  The  Journey  of  De  Soto,"  in  the  "Trail  Makers  Series"; 
Lowery,  "Spanish  Settlements  in  America,"  pp.  235  et  seq;  and  Bandelier, 
"Contributions  to  Southwestern  History." 

si  Bancroft,  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  i.  ch.  ii. 


78 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


For  the  government  of  the  Spanish- American  colonies 
there  was  a  council  of  the  Indies,  through  which  the  king 
made  all  laws  relating  to  them.  Every  colonial  officer  was 
subordinate  to  it.  Under  the  direction  of  the  king  it  ex- 
ercised supreme  legislative  and  judicial  control  of  Spanish 


Charles  V. 

"  The  Emperor  in  whose  empire  the  sun  never  set." 

After  copper  engraving  by  Bartel  Behaim,  1531 

America.  It  served  also  as  an  advisory  or  nominating  board 
in  regard  to  all  civil  or  ecclesiastical  appointments  in  Amer- 
ica, somewhat  after  the  manner  of  the  English  Board  of 
Trade  and  Plantations.  The  colonies  themselves  were  di- 
vided into  two  great  provinces:  Mexico  or  New  Spain,  in- 
cluding Venezuela,  and  Peru,  comprising  the  rest  of  South 
America  except  Brazil,     Legally,  they  did  not  belong  to 


EXPLORATIONS  79 

Spain,  but  were  a  part  of  the  hereditary  domains  of  the 
sovereigns  of  Castile  as  heirs  of  Queen  Isabella,  and  the 
Spanish  Parliament  had  little  or  nothing  to  do  with  them. 

Each  was  governed  by  a  viceroy,  who  acted  as  the  per- 
sonal representative  of  the  king,  and  each  was  subdivided 
for  administrative  purposes  into  a  number  of  audiencias  or 
Supreme  Court  districts.  At  the  expiration  of  their  terms 
of  office  the  viceroys  were  compelled  to  submit  to  an  inquest 
into  their  official  conduct.  They  were  further  checked  by 
councils  or  audiencias,,  which  at  the  same  time  served  as  the 
highest  colonial  courts  of  appeal.  Jealousy  of  the  power  of 
these  viceroys  caused  their  removal  every  few  years,  hence 
they  sought  to  make  their  fortunes  quickly.  The  cities  were 
allowed  town  councils,  the  only  measure  of  local  self-gov- 
ernment recognized  in  America.  The  councils  consisted 
of  regidares  or  aldermen,  and  a  number  of  alcaldes  or  jus- 
tices, the  latter  elected  by  the  former.  The  public  offices 
were  generally  sold  for  cash  and  this  was  one  of  the  regular 
sources  of  government  revenue.  No  Spaniard  born  in  the 
colony  was  eligible  to  any  office.  The  population  was  a 
superposition  of  castes.  The  colonists  were  forbidden  to 
cultivate  European  products,  to  manufacture  goods,  or  con- 
struct ships,  and  all  commerce  was  monopolized  by  a  few 
opulent  houses  at  Seville.  At  first  an  effort  was  made  to 
use  the  Indians  as  laborers,  but  it  was  found  to  mean  their 
destruction.  Hispaniola  is  reputed  to  have  had  1,000,000 
inhabitants  in  1492;  nineteen  years  later  14,000.  From  the 
beginning  the  conversion  of  the  Indians  to  Christianity  was 
one  of  the  dominant  motives  of  Spanish  policy.  Following 
upon  the  heels  of  conquest  came  an  army  of  indefatigable 
friars  who  devoted  themselves  assiduously  to  preaching,  bap- 
tizing, and  learning  the  native  language. 

Every  village,  whether  Indian  or  Spanish,  was  required 
by  law  to  maintain  a  church,  hospital,  and  school  for  the  in- 


80  THE    UNITED    STATES 

struction  of  native  children  in  the  Spanish  language  and  re- 
ligion. Converted  Indians  were  gathered  together  in  vil- 
lages called  missions,  where,  under  the  direction  of  the  friars, 
they  were  taught  to  live  industrious,  peaceful,  religious  lives. 
Every  mission  thus  became  an  industrial  school  and  in  time 
the  whole  of  Spanish- America  was  dotted  with  such  institu- 
tions, where  tens  of  thousands  of  Indians  went  through  a 
process  of  schooling  which  ended  only  with  their  lives.  The 
government  was  apparently  extremely  solicitous  for  the  edu- 
cation of  the  natives  and  it  is  the  opinion  of  careful  investi- 
gators that  the  efforts  made  by  Spain  for  its  promotion 
greatly  exceeded  anything  attempted  by  the  English  gov- 
ernment in  its  American  colonies.  Indian  boys  were  taught 
to  read  and  write  the  Spanish  language  and  to  become 
tailors,  carpenters,  blacksmiths,  and  shoemakers.  Higher 
institutions  of  learning  were  established  in  various  places, 
and  in  number,  range  of  studies  and  standard  of  attainments 
they  probably  surpassed  anything  of  the  kind  in  English- 
America  before  the  nineteenth  century.  Especially  in 
Mexico  were  the  achievements  in  medicine,  surgery,  linguis- 
tics, anthropology  and  history  of  a  notable  character.  Dic- 
tionaries, grammars,  and  histories  of  Mexican  institutions 
testify  to  the  intellectual  activity  and  industry  of  the  Span- 
ish scholars.  In  Peru  the  University  of  Lima  had  at  one 
time  over  two  thousand  students  and  some  two  hundred  doc- 
tors of  theology,  law  and  medicine. 

In  spite  of  the  restrictions  upon  foreign  trade,  Spanish 
manufactures  formed  hardly  one-tenth  of  the  importations 
into  the  colonies — the  rest  were  smuggled.  The  population 
of  Spain  was  decimated  by  continual  wars  and  by  immigra- 
tion to  the  colonies.  Military  adventurers  and  the  idleness 
of  the  monasteries  suspended  labor.  Spain  ceased  to  pro- 
duce her  own  necessities  and  bought  them  of  other  countries 
with  the  gold  and  silver  poured  into  her  lap  by  her  American 


EXPLORATIONS  81 

mines.  Humboldt  estimated  the  average  annual  output  of 
the  mines  at  6,000,000  pesos  during  the  seventeenth  century, 
and  at  33,000,000  during  the  latter  half  of  the  eighteenth, 
while  the  total  yield  from  1493  to  1803  he  put  at  5,706,700,- 
000  pesos,  or  about  ten  times  the  known  production  of  the 
rest  of  the  world.  Her  galleons  laden  with  the  precious 
metals  were  naturally  the  envy  of  other  nations  and  were 
constantly  preyed  upon  by  their  daring  corsairs,  even  when 
the  nations  were  not  at  war  on  land.  But  those  which  reached 
her  ports  only  contributed  to  her  downfall  by  teaching  her 
people  to  put  their  trust  in  gold,  then  thought  to  be  true 
wealth,  instead  of  in  the  fruits  of  industry. 

It  is  generally  asserted  by  historians  that  the  Spanish 
colonies  were  oppressed  and  exploited  by  the  mother  country, 
but  according  to  Professor  E.  G.  Bourne,  a  careful  investi- 
gator and  writer  on  Spanish  rule  in  America,  these  facts 
have  been  greatly  exaggerated.  This  writer's  conclusions 
are  substantially  as  follows:  Justice  was  slow  and  uncer- 
tain; the  evidence  of  financial  corruption,  especially  of  judi- 
cial bribery,  is  abundant,  but  all  things  considered,  Spanish- 
America  was  quite  as  well  governed  as  was  Spain,  and  was 
on  the  whole  more  prosperous,  and  that  at  no  time  in  the  his- 
tory of  Mexico,  up  to  within  the  last  quarter  of  a  century, 
has  the  government  been  so  good  a&  her  people  enjoyed  under 
the  able  viceroys  sent  over  by  the  kings  of  Spain.3 


32 


IV 

EXPLORATIONS  OF  THE  FRENCH 

The  King  of  France  declared  that  he  would  not  respect 
the  Papal  "  Line  of  Demarcation  "  unless  authority  for  it 

32  See  Bourne,  "  Spain  in  America,"  chs.  xix.-xx«,  from  which  the  facts  above 
stated  are  mainly  drawn. 


82 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


could  be  traced  back  to  Adam's  will,  and  attracted  by  the 
hope  of  fish  and  furs  Frenchmen  soon  began  to  frequent  the 
coasts  of  northeastern  America.  The  French  king  also  en- 
tertained the  belief  that  the  passage  to  Cathay  and  India  lay 
in  this  direction,  and  so  in  1524  he  sent  out  Giovanni  Verra- 
zano,  a  native  of  Florence  and  a  daring  corsair  and  explorer, 
to  find  the  coveted  route.  Verrazano  crossed  the  Atlantic, 
sighted  the  shores  of  what  is  now  North  Carolina  and  ex- 
plored the  coast  as  far  north 
as  New  England,  after  which 
he  disappeared  from  view, 
how  or  where  no  one  knows. 
In  1534  another  Frenchman, 
Jacques  Cartier,  explored  the 
coasts  and  islands  about  the 
Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  and  the 
following  year  sailed  up  the 
St.  Lawrence  River  as  far  as 
the  rapids,  where  he  named 
the  hill  on  the  northern  bank 
Mount  Royal  ( Montreal ) , 
near  which  was  situated  the 
Indian  village  of  Hochelaga. 
Six  years  later  he  and  Rober- 
val,  a  nobleman  of  France, 
attempted  to  plant  a  colony 
on  this  river,  but  they  did  not 
work  together  harmoniously 
and  the  attempt  ended  in  disaster.  Other  Frenchmen  came 
to  these  northern  regions  to  engage  in  the  fish  and  pelt  indus- 
try, but  the  sixteenth  century  ended  without  any  successful 
colonization.  The  French  next  turned  south  in  search  of  a 
more  hospitable  clime. 

Here  they  might  have  succeeded  but  for  the  criminal 


Jacques  Cartier 

From    the    original    painting    in    the 

town  hall  of  St.  Malo,  France 


EXPLORATIONS  83 

neglect  of  the  government.     In  1562  Admiral  Coligny,  the 
leader  of  the  Huguenots,  as  the  French  Protestants  were 


Admiral  Gaspard  de  Coligny 
Painting  of  the  Burgundy  school 


called,  sent  out  an  expedition  under  Jean  Ribaut,  a  seaman 
of  renown  in  his  day,  who  discovered  St.  John's  River  and 
sailed  northward,  naming  the  country  Carolina,  in  honor  of 


84 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


Charles  IX.,  King  of  France.  A  colony  of  twenty-six  per- 
sons was  established  at  Port  Royal,  near  the  modern  Beau- 
fort, but  the  following  year,  after  an  experience  marked 
by  hunger,  mutiny  and  bloodshed,  the  settlers  followed  their 
leader  home,  only  to  be  captured  by  an  English  cruiser. 
Laudoniere  then  (1564),  under  the  patronage  of  the  king, 
sought  the  Carolina  coast  with  a  company  of  Protestants, 
who  established  themselves  on  the  St.  John's  River.  The 
colonists  were  a  dissolute  set,  many  of  them  European  jail- 
birds, who  were  then  thought 
to  be  good  material  for  colo- 
nists, and  gave  the  governor 
no  little  trouble.  A  piratical 
expedition  which  some  of 
them  organized  against  the 
Spanish  betrayed  the  presence 
of  the  little  colony.  Those 
who  escaped  the  Spanish 
sword  and  the  governor's  gib- 
bet were  soon  reduced  to  dire 
straits  by  their  own  improvi- 
dence and  by  their  bad  treat- 
ment of  the  Indians,  who  had 
at  first  received  them  kindly. 
August,      1565,      Sir     John 

Paiof  wsbLsZcendhaenTs'  It  n  ^nth*™  Hawkins,    an    English    slave 
England  trader,  entered  the  St.  John's 

River,  and  sold  the  Frenchmen  one  of  the  vessels  in 
exchange  for  their  heavy  guns.  They  had  intended  return- 
ing home,  but  before  they  started  Ribaut  arrived  with  fresh 
supplies. 

The  Spanish  had  not  succeeded  in  colonizing  Florida, 
but  they  were  determined  not  to  give  it  up,  and  Pedro 
Menendez  de  Aviles,  "  the  bloodiest  Spaniard  who  ever  cursed 


Sir  Johx   Hawkins 


EXPLORATIONS 


85 


American  soil,"  says  Channing,  "  and  one  of  the  ablest," 33 
was  commissioned  to  destroy  the  French  colony  on  the  St, 


Charles  IX.,  King  of  France 
Painting  by  Francois  Clouet,  called  "Janet" 

John's,  and  for  this  purpose  a  fleet  of  nineteen  vessels  and 
fifteen  hundred  men  was  placed  at  his  command.  After 
founding  a  colony  to  the  south  of  them  as  a  base  of  opera- 

33  Channing,  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  i.  p.  98. 


86  THE    UNITED    STATES 

tions  he  proceeded  to  "  gibbet  and  behead  all  the  Protes- 
tants "  in  that  region,  with  the  savage  cruelty  characteris- 
tic of  the  Spaniards  in  that  age.34  Philip  II.  approved  the  ac- 
tion of  Menendez,  and  wrote  the  following  endorsement  on 
one  of  the  latter's  despatches :  "  Say  to  him,  that  as  to  those 
he  has  killed,  he  has  done  well,  and  as  to  those  he  has  saved, 
they  shall  be  sent  to  the  galleys."  Thus  did  Spain  make 
good  her  claim  to  North  America  and  crush  the  first  signs 
of  heresy  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic. 

The  town  which  Menendez  founded  in  this  region  was 
named  St.  Augustine  (1565)  and  was  the  first  permanent 
settlement  within  the  limits  of  continental  United  States. 
But  it  came  near  being  wiped  out  of  existence  two  years 
later  in  a  terrible  retribution  which  Dominic  de  Gourges, 
a  daring  soldier  of  Gascony,  sought  to  inflict  in  revenge  for 
the  massacre  of  his  fellow  Huguenots.  He  destroyed  all 
the  settlements  left  by  Menendez,  except  St.  Augustine, 
hanged  his  prisoners  to  a  tree  and  sailed  back  to  France  in 
triumph.  The  King  of  France,  as  already  stated,  did  not 
even  protest  against  this  cruel  act  of  Menendez, 
although  the  blood  of  hundreds  of  loyal  Frenchmen  had 
cried  from  the  ground  for  retribution.  But  the  victims  of 
Menendez's  ferocity  were  to  his  Catholic  majesty  only  de- 
spised Huguenots,  disturbers  of  the  realm  and  followers  of 
the  hated  Coligny,  and  so  they  were  left  to  their  fate  by  an 
unnatural  sovereign.  But  at  last  they  had  found  a  power- 
ful avenger,  and  although  the  king  could  and  did  disavow  his 
acts,  he  could  not  undo  them.  The  chivalrous  annals  of 
France,  says  Parkman,  may  be  searched  in  vain  for  a  deed 
of  more  romantic  daring  than  the  vengeance  of  Dominic  de 
Gourges.35 

Later  in  the  century  exploration  and  colonization  were 

s*  Read  Parkman,  "Pioneers  of  France  in  the  New  World,"  chs.  vii.-viii. 
35  Parkman,  "  Pioneers  of  France  in  the  New  World,"  p.  139. 


EXPLORATIONS 


87 


again  taken  up  at  the  north,  for  here  seemed  to  lie  the  hope 
of  French  colonization.  The  fur  trade  was  found  very  lucra- 
tive and  received  no  little  attention,  while  the  fisheries  grew 
steadily  in  importance.  In  1578  there  were  not  less  than  one 
hundred  and  fifty  French  fishing  vessels  at  Newfoundland, 
besides  two  hundred  of  other  nations.  Rude  huts  were 
springing  up  along  the  shores  of  Anti  Costi,  and  were  be- 
coming centers  of  the  far  more  lucrative  trade  in  bear  skins 
and  beaver  skins.  French  merchants  and  adventurers  were 
turning  their  eyes  toward  these  regions,  not  like  the  Span- 
iards seeking  gold  and  silver,  but  the  more  modest  gains  of 
fish,  olL^nd  peltries. 

In  1603  Samuel  de  Champlain,  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able Frenchmen  of  his  day,  says  John  Fiske,  and  a  French 
explorer  of  indomitable  per- 
severance and  great  merit, 
who  years  before  had  gone 
on  a  voyage  to  the  West  In- 
dies, sailed  up  the  St.  Law- 
rence past  Mount  Royal;  but 
being  unable  to  ascend  the 
rapids,  turned  back  and  re- 
crossed  the  Atlantic  to  France. 
His  curiosity  still  unsated,  he 
came  out  again  next  year  with 
Sieur  de  Monts,  who  had  se- 
cured from  the  king  an  ap- 
pointment as  Lieutenant- 
General  or  viceroy  of  Acadia, 
as  the  English  called  the 
country  from  the  fortieth  to  the  forty-sixth  parallel  of  north 
latitude.  At  the  same  time  de  Monts  was  given  a  monopoly 
of  the  fur  trade  in  all  this  vast  region.36 

««  See  H.  P.  Biggar,  "  Early  Trading  Companies  of  New  France,"  ch.  iT. 


Copyright,  1905,  by  John  D.  Morris  &  Company 

Samuel  de  Champlaik 
Reproduced    from    a   rare   mezzotint 


88  THE    UNITED    STATES 

In  April,  1604,  de  Monts  and  Champlain  sailed 
from  Havre  de  Grace  with  two  ships,  carrying  the  ma- 
terial for  the  proposed  colony,  which  consisted  of  a  curious 
mixture  of  gentlemen,  thieves,  and  vagabonds  mainly  im- 
pressed from  the  streets  of  French  cities.  The  voyagers 
proceeded  to  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  thence  to  the  Passama- 
quoddy  Bay  and  finally  to  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Croix  River, 
where  they  made  a  settlement  which  was  identified  nearly  two 
hundred  years  later  at  the  time  of  the  dispute  between  Great 
Britain  and  the  United  States  over  the  northeastern  bound- 
ary. The  colonists  soon  abandoned  this  cold,  inhospitable 
site,  or  rather  the  remnant  of  them  who  were  left  after  pesti- 
lence had  carried  off  a  considerable  portion  of  their  number 
crossed  the  Bay  of  Fundy  and  settled  Port  Royal,  now  An- 
napolis, which  proved  to  be  the  first  permanent  French  set- 
tlement in  America. 

After  several  unimportant  exploring  expeditions 
along  the  northeastern  shores,  Champlain  returned  to 
France.  But  again  in  1608  we  find  him  on  his  way  to 
America,  this  time  in  the  three-fold  character  of  explorer, 
colonist  and  fur  trader.  Sailing  up  the  St.  Lawrence  River, 
he  planted  a  settlement  on  the  present  site  of  the  city  of 
Queiec  and  left  a  garrison  in  possession  of  the  post,  but  all 
except  eight  of  them  died  during  the  winter  of  1608-1609. 
During  the  winter  Champlain  with  a  party  of  Canadian  In- 
dians made  an  expedition  into  the  wilderness  of  what  is  now 
northern  New  York  for  the  purpose  of  making  war  on  the 
Iroquois,  the  most  powerful  Indian  tribe  in  America.  Dur- 
ing the  course  of  the  expedition  Champlain  discovered  the 
beautiful  lake  that  has  ever  since  borne  his  name.  Coming 
up  with  an  Iroquois  war  party,  he  attacked  them,  and  after 
a  sharp  battle  drove  them  from  the  field.  This  incident  was 
destined  to  have  important  consequences  on  the  history  of  the 
struggle  between  France  and  England  in  America;  was,  in 


EXPLORATIONS  91 

truth,  one  of  the  greatest  cardinal  facts  of  American  history 
down  to  1763.37  It  implanted  in  the  hearts  of  the  Iroquois 
an  implacable  hatred  for  the  French,  while,  as  a  result  of  the 
very  different  treatment  accorded  to  them  by  Henry  Hudson, 
who  came  into  relations  with  the  Iroquois  a  few  weeks  after 
Champlain's  attack,  they  became  the  steadfast  friends  of  the 
English  and  Dutch,  and  remained  such  as  long  as  the  Eng- 
lish supremacy  in  America  lasted.  Several  years  after  this 
incident  Champlain  made  an  expedition  against  the  Indians 
in  western  New  York,  which  ended  his  career  of  exploring 
and  fighting.  The  remaining  years  of  his  life  were  devoted 
mainly  to  promoting  the  progress  of  his  lifeless  settlement  at 
Quebec,  which  as  late  as  1628  had  a  population  of  only  one 
hundred  persons.38  |[During  the  latter  half  of  the  same  cen- 
tury La  Salle  and  Hennepin  traversed  the  Mississippi  Valley 
and  the  region  of  the  Great  Lakes,  and  Marquette  and  other 
missionary  explorers  were  sent  out  from  France  by  the  So- 
ciety of  Jesus. 

As  the  search  for  gold  and  silver  was  the  dominating 
motive  back  of  Spanish  explorations  in  America,  so  the  fish 
and  peltry  industries  constituted  the  chief  stimulus  to  French 
adventure.  Added  to  the  economic  stimulus  also  was  the  de- 
sire to  convert  the  heathen  to  the  Cathohc^faith.  Along 
with  every  fur  trader  went  a  black-robed  priest,  and  while  the 
one  bartered  with  the  dusky  savage  for  his  skins,  the  other 
talked  to  him  of  salvation  and  grace.  Manifesting  a 
genuine  sympathy  for  the  Indian  customs  and  fraternizing 
with  them  on  terms  of  social  equality,  the  French  pioneers 
gained  an  ascendancy  over  the  savages  (except,  of  course, 
the  Iroquois,  who  were  alienated  by  the  mistakes  of  Cham- 

37  John  Fiske,  "Discovery  of  America,"  vol.  ii.  p.  530. 

38  For  good  accounts  of  Champlain's  explorations  see  Parkman's  "Pioneers 
of  France  in  the  New  World,"  ch.  ix.-xvii.;  Winsor,  "  Cartier  to  Frontenac,"  chs. 
v.-viii.,  and  Kingford's  "  History  of  Canada,"  vol.  i.  chs.  ii.-vii. 


} 


92  THE    UNITED    STATES 

plain)  which  neither  the  Englishman  nor  the  Spaniard  was 
able  to  rival. 

As  in  New  Spain,  so  in  New  France  trade  and  com- 
merce were  greatly  hampered  by  royal  grants  of  exclu- 
sive privileges,  but  during  the  time  of  Richelieu  notable  re- 
forms in  this  regard  were  introduced.  The  French,  unlike 
the  Spaniards  who  came  before  them,  as  well  as  the  English 
who  followed,  were  not  successful  colonizers.  Their  settle- 
ments always  languished  and  signs  of  material  progress  were 
seldom  seen.  Half  a  century  after  the  founding  of  Quebec 
there  were  not  above  three  thousand  white  settlers  in  all  New 
France  and  Acadia  put  together.39  The  successful  coloniza- 
tion of  America  was  left  for  another  race,  who  sent  over 
families  without  priests  and  missionaries,  whose  dominating 
motive  was  not  the  quest  for  gold  and  silver,  and  about  whose 
history  there  lingers  none  of  the  romance  of  the  courier  de 
bois  or  the  conquestador. 


EARLY  ENGLISH  ATTEMPTS  AT  COLONIZATION 

After  the  voyages  of  the  Cabots,  English  fishermen  con- 
tinued to  frequent  the  Grand  Banks  of  Newfoundland, 
and  slave  merchants  traded  with  the  Spanish  colonies  in  the 
south,  but  it  was  not  until  Elizabeth  ascended  the  throne  and 
England  had  broken  forever  with  Catholicism  that  she  began 
to  contest  in  earnest  the  claims  of  Spain  to  the  land  and 
treasures  of  the  New  World.  The  Elizabethans  were  as 
famous  upon  the  sea  as  upon  the  stage ;  the  chief  actors  there 
were  Hawkins,  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert  and  his  half  brother, 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  Gosnold,  Newport,  Frobisher,  and 
Francis  Drake,  and  to  these  hardy  seamen  England  owes  her 
colonial  empire,  and  the  United  States  its  existence. 

3»  Channing,  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  i.  p.  109. 


Copyright,  1905,  by  John  D.  Morris  &  Company 

Countries  Traversed  by  Marquette,  Hennepin  and  La  Salle 


EXPLORATIONS 


95 


Drake  in  particular  had  a  special  grudge  against  the 
Spaniards,  and  he  wreaked  his  vengeance  upon  them  in  such 
a  way  as  to  go  down  in  the  Spanish  annals  as  "  The  Dragon." 
In  1557  he  set  out  with  four  vessels  on  a  buccaneering  tour 
witJKbut  a  commission  from  the  queen,  but  three  of  the  ships 
were  lost  by  mutiny, 
desertion  and  coward- 
ice. Drake,  however, 
kept  on  in  the  Pelican 
and  entered  the  Pa- 
cific in  October,  1578. 
He  then  proceeded  to 
harry  the  unprotected 
settlements  on  the 
western  coast  of 
America  and  to  relieve 
homeward  bound 
Spanish  galleons  of 
their  burdens  of  silver 
and  gold  wherever  he 
could  find  them.  He 
sailed  northward  as  far 
as  California  and  then 
turned  west,  returning  to  England  by  way  of  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope.  The  amount  of  spoil  which  Drake  gathered  in 
during  the  course  of  his  piratical  cruise  was  enormous,  and 
stirred  to  the  highest  pitch  the  wrath  of  the  Spaniards.  The 
queen  graciously  overlooked  his  conduct,  however,  rewarded 
him  and  his  men  handsomely  with  a  share  of  the  spoil  and 
knighted  the  daring  admiral  in  person  on  board  the 
Pelican.40  Frobisher  and  Gilbert  each  made  three  voyages 
(1576-1583)  to  Labrador  and  the  region  about  the  Gulf  of 
the  St.  Lawrence,  but  accomplished  little  beyond  interesting 

*o  Hale,  Hawkins  and  Drake  in  Winsor,  "  Nar.  and  Crit.  Hist,"  voL  vii.ch.ii. 


Queejt  Elizabeth,  as  Wisdom 
Painting  by  F.  Zucchero 


96 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


others  in  that  part  of  the  country  and  inducing  them  to  at- 
tempt colonization  there. 

The  first  serious  effort  was  made  farther  south.  Gilbert 
had  been  lost  at  sea  on  the  return  trip  of  his  third  voyage, 
and  the  patent  which  had  been  issued  to  him  was  transferred 
to  Raleigh.     It  authorized  him  and  his  heirs  and  assigns  "  to 


Sir  Francis  Drake 

From  painting  owned  by  T.  F.  Eliott  Drake,  Nutwill 
Court,   North  Exeter 

have  and  to  hold,  to  occupy  and  enjoy  "  all  the  lands  not  pos- 
sessed by  any  Christian  prince.  Said  lands  referred  to  doubt- 
less being  those  of  northeastern  America.  Raleigh  was  one 
of  Elizabeth's  favorites,  was  the  friend  of  statesmen,  men  of 


EXPLORATIONS  97 

letters,  courtiers,  soldiers  and  mariners,  and  himself  a  leader 
in  all  those  fields  of  activity.  In  1584  he  sent  out  two  vessels 
under  command  of  Philip  Amadas  and  Arthur  Barlow,  who 
landed  at  Roanoke  Island  in  Albermarle  Sound  and  carried 
back  a  glowing  description  of  the  country,  which,  he  asserted, 
was  "  the  most  plentiful,  sweet,  fruitful  and  wholesome  of 


Sir  Walter  Raleigh 
Painting  by  F.  Zucchero 


all  the  world."  As  a  reward  really  for  what  Amadas  and 
Barlow  had  described,  Raleigh  was  knighted  and  his  claim 
was  confirmed.  He  named  the  country  Virginia,  in  honor  of 
the  Virgin  Queen,  and  by  her  help  sent  seven  vessels  with  one 


98  THE    UNITED    STATES 

hundred  and  eight  colonists  the  next  year.  A  piratical  de- 
tour was  made  around  by  the  Canaries  in  order,  it  is  said, 
to  force  the  Spanish  to  help  pay  the  expenses. 

The  colonists,  one  hundred  in  number,  were  landed  on 
Roanoke  Island  under  the  leadership  of  Ralph  Lane  as 
governor,  but  they  too  "  spun  out  their  days  in  cursed  thirst 
for  gold,"  and  starvation  soon  stared  them  in  the  face.  At 
this  juncture  Drake  happened  to  pass  that  way  while  re- 
turning from  a  cruise  in  the  West  Indies,  and  carried  them 
home  just  a  few  weeks  before  another  expedition  under 
Grenville  arrived  with  supplies  and  recruits,  of  whom  fifteen 
were  left  behind  to  hold  the  deserted  post,  while  Grenville 
proceeded  to  the  West  Indies  to  collect  the  expenses  of  his 
voyage  from  the  Spaniards.  Raleigh,  whose  fortune  had 
been  depleted  by  these  repeated  efforts,  now  secured 
help  from  certain  merchants  and  men  of  influence  and  fitted 
out  another  expedition  of  three  vessels  destined  this  time  for 
Chesapeake  Bay.  In  July,  1587,  they  touched  at  Roanoke 
for  the  purpose  of  taking  on  board  Grenville's  men,  but 
found  not  one  of  them.  The  governor,  John  White,  set 
ashore  the  colonists,  among  them  his  wife,  his  daughter  and 
grand-daughter,  Virginia  Dare,  the  first  English  child  born 
in  America,  and  returned  to  England  to  hurry  forward 
needed  supplies.  When  he  reached  Roanoke  again,  three 
years  later,  not  a  trace  of  the  colonists  was  to  be  found,  al- 
though the  houses  which  they  had  occupied  were  still  stand- 
ing. From  then  until  now  the  fate  of  White's  "lost 
colony  "  has  been  a  fruitful  theme  of  speculation  among 
historians.  Most  of  them  probably  perished;  some  of  them 
may  have  been  adopted  by  the  Indians,  for  at  a  much 
later  time  people  with  light  hair  and  eyes  were  found 
among  the  Indians.  Some  such  people  may  be  found 
in  North  Carolina  to-day,  and  some  have  been  led  to 
believe  that  they  were  the  descendants  of  the  lost  colonists, 


EXPLORATIONS 


99 


but  it  seems  very  improbable.41  With  undaunted  courage 
Raleigh  tried  still  another  expedition  in  1602,  but  again 
failed.     James  I.  imprisoned  him  for  twelve  years,  and  later, 


Philip  II.  of  Spain 
From   a  painting  by   Titian,   Corsini   Gallery,   Rome 

after  Raleigh's  voyage  to  Guiana,  basely  executed  him  on  an 
old  and  false  charge  of  treason. 

The  cause  of  White's  failure  to  return  sooner  was  the 
war  with  Spain.  The  English  buccaneers  were  becoming 
more  and  more  daring,  robbing  Spain  of  her  treasure  ships 
and  even  harrying  the  Spanish  Main.  Her  very  existence 

4i  Read  Brown's  "  Genesis  of  the  United  States,"  i.  p.  20  et  seq.,  and  S.  B. 
Weeks  in  "  American  Hist.  Papers,"  vol.  v.  p.  4. 


100  THE    UNITED    STATES 

seemed  to  depend  upon  free  communication  with  her  colonies, 
which  was  now  threatened,  and  for  this  and  other  reasons  she 
determined  upon  one  supreme  effort  to  crush  the  maritime 
rival.  For  this  purpose  Philip  II.  fitted  out  his  "  Invincible 
Armada,"  consisting  of  one  hundred  and  thirty  ships,  carry- 
ing thirty  thousand  soldiers  and  three  thousand  heavy  guns. 
In  May,  1588,  this  gigantic  fleet  appeared  off  the  coast  of 
England.  The  English  vessels  were  smaller  in  size  and  fewer 
in  number  than  the  Spanish,  but  much  faster ;  and  manned  by 
such  masterly  seamen  as  Hawkins,  Frobisher  and  Drake, 
they  proved  irresistible.  What  the  English  left  the  winds 
destroyed,  and  the  two  together  dealt  Spain  a  blow  from 
which  she  never  recovered.42  The  destruction  of  her  colonial 
empire,  begun  at  this  time  by  England,  was  completed  just 
three  hundred  and  ten  years  later,  almost  to  a  day,  by  the 
United  States. 

Bartholomew  Gosnold  deserves  mention  among  the 
English  navigators  as  being  one  of  the  first  to  sail  directly 
for  America  from  England,  instead  of  passing  down  by  the 
West  Indies,  thereby  shortening  the  route  by  nearly  a  thou- 
sand miles.  Cape  Cod  was  named  by  him  in  1602  while  ex- 
ploring the  coast  of  Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire.  In 
the  following  year  Martin  Pring  was  sent  out  with  two  ves- 
sels by  certain  British  merchants  to  explore  the  New  England 
coast,  and  in  1604  he  was  followed  by  George  Weymouth, 
who  explored  some  of  the  same  coast.  The  report  of  the 
abundance  of  good  harbors  in  this  region  fixed  still  more 
firmly  the  attention  of  the  English  upon  it  as  better  suited 
for  colonization  than  the  country  farther  south ;  but  the  honor 
of  receiving  the  first  English  colony  was  reserved  for  Vir- 
ginia. 

Such,  in  brief,  was  the  experience  of  the  Europeans  in 
America  in  the  sixteenth  century.     Of  the  nations  most  ac- 

42  Read  Corbett's  "Drake  and  the  Tudor  Navy." 


V,.  >\  ;,.,  i  J3  V  JA  5 


EXPLORATIONS  103 

tive  and  destined  to  play  leading  roles,  Spain  seemed  to  have 
the  firmest  hold.  But  she  had  fallen  upon  the  indolent 
south,  where  nature  saps  the  very  energies  her  luxuries 
promise  to  sustain.  France  turned  to  the  frozen  north,  but 
wasted  by  dissensions  at  home  and  constant  wars  abroad, 
she  had  a  slender  hold  on  the  extensive  region  to  the  north 
and  south  of  the  St.  Lawrence  to  which  she  laid  claim.  The 
English,  whether  from  choice  or  necessity,  had  taken  the 
safer  middle  ground  and  claimed  all  from  Newfoundland 
to  Florida,  though  nobody  knew  where  the  dividing  lines 
were.  But  at  the  dawn  of  the  seventeenth  century  not  a 
single  permanent  settlement  had  yet  been  effected  by  the 
power  destined  to  dominate  the  New  World. 


Chapter   III 
THE   PLANTING    OF    THE    COLONIES 

I 

VIRGINIA 

AFTER  the  failure  of  Raleigh  no  single  individual 
Zjk  was  found  to  risk  his  fame  and  fortune  in  efforts  at 
A.  Ml.  colonization,  but  the  work  was  soon  taken  up  by 
corporate  companies.  The  success  attending  the  Muscovy 
and  East  India  Companies,  which  had  been  founded  to  trade 
with  Russia  and  India  respectively,  led  a  few  venturesome 
merchants  and  traders  to  inquire  if  similar  results  could  not 
be  obtained  by  corporate  action  in  America.  The  conditions 
were  indeed  vastly  different,  but  the  venture  was  made  and  a 
charter  secured  from  King  James  I.  in  1606  for  a  company 
_  with  two  subdivisions,  the  London  Company  and  the  Ply- 
jnouth  Company,  so  called  from  the  names  of  the  towns 
which  became,  the  headquarters  of  the  two  companies  re- 
spectively. The  first  was  granted  permission  to  plant  a 
colony  anywhere  on  the  coast  of  Virginia  (the  name  applied 
to  all  the  English  claims  in  America  at  this  time)  between 
the  thirty- fourth  and  thirty-eighth  degrees  of  north  latitude; 
the  second  was  given  the  same  privilege  between  the  forty- 
first  and  forty-fifth,  neither  company  to  plant  a  colony 
within  onejhundred  miles  of  a  settlement  already  made  by 
the  other*.  The  announcement  of  a  new  colonial  policy  such  m 
as  had  not  yet  been  introduced  in  America  was  contained  in 
the  clause  which  declared  that  the  colonists  and  their  pos- 
terity should  enjoy  all  "  liberties,  franchises  and  immuni- 

104 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES 


105 


ties  "  as  though  they  were  abiding  in  the  realm — that  is,  they 
were  to  enjoy  the  benefits  of  the  common  law  equally  with 
the  inhabitants  of  England.  This  declaration  really  deserves 
to  be  called  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  colonization.1 

The  government  of  the  colony  was  to  be  nominally  in 
the  hands  of  two  councils,  one  resident  in  England,  the  other 
in  the  colony;  but  as  one  was  appointed  directly,  and  the  other 
indirectly,  by  the  king,  all 
power  was  virtually  in  his 
hands.  The  council  in  Amer- 
ica was  to  administer  affairs 
according  to  instructions  is- 
sued by  the  king,  but__any 
laws^  or  ordinances  which  _it 
might  make  were  subject  to 
repeal  by  the  crown  or  by  the 
home  council.  The  form  of 
government  thus  provided 
was  absurdly  cumbrous  and 
soon  had  to  be  abandoned. 
X  The  first  instructions  ordered 
that  the  land  tenure  should  be 
the  same  as  in  England;  that   After  a  painting  by  Vansomer,  Na- 

trial    by    jury    should    be    pre-         tional  Portrait  Gallery,  London 

served,  and  the  supremacy  of  the  king  and  of  the  Church  of 
England  maintained.2 

The  colony  itself  was  to  be  started  on  a  system  of  com- 
munism. In  the  words  of  Doyle,  it  was  to  be  a  "  vast  joint- 
stQck  farm,  or  collection  of  farms,  worked  by  servants  who 
were  to  receive,  in  return  for  their  labor,  all  their  necessaries 
and  a  share  in  the  proceeds  of  the  undertaking.'-  All  trade 
was  to  be  in  the  hands  of  a  treasurer  or  cape  merchant,  and 

i  Channing,  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  i.  p.  162. 
2  Fiske,  "  Old  Virginia  and  Her  Neighbors,"  vol.  i.  p.  64. 


James  I. 


106  THE    UNITED    STATES 

was  to  be  public.  The  patentees  were  given  the  right  to 
exact  a  duty  of  two  and  a  half  per  cent,  from  all  English 
subjects,  and  five  per  cent,  from  all  foreigners  trading  with 
the  colony/  For  twenty  years  the  proceeds  were  to  accrue 
to  the  company,  after  that  to  the  crown.3  Among  the  first 
councilors  appointed  by  the  king  were  Sir  Ferdinando  Gor- 
ges, Sir  Edwin  Sandys,  Sir  Thomas  Smythe  and  Sir  Francis 
PophajgralTable  and  well-known  men  of  their  time.  These 
preliminaries  being  completed,  preparations  were  made 
to  send  out  the  first  expedition  to  take  possession  of  the  com- 
pany's lands. 

On  December  19,  1606,  three  puny  vessels,  with  an  ag- 
gregate tonnage  of  noT'bver  one  hundred  and  sixty  tons, 
sailed  from  England  on  what  was  perhaps,  for  Englishmen 
at  least,  the  most  important  voyage  in  its  results  since  Colum- 
bus had  sailed  out  of  Palos  with  his  three  caravels  more  than 
a  hundred  years  previous.  The  three  ships  were  called  the 
Susan  Constant,  the  Godspeed  and  the  Discovery,  all  be- 
longing to  the  Muscovy  Company,  and  they  carried  one 
hundredand  four  settlers  to  the  coast  of  Virginia  under  the 
command  of  Christopher  Newport,  a  well-known  seaman  of 
the  time.  The  voyage  was  long  and  stormy  and  spring  was 
well  advanced  when  they  entered  Chesapeake  Bay  (May, 
1607).  The  two  capes  at  the  entrance  of  this  bay  were 
named  Charles  and  Henry,  in  honor  of  the  king's  sons,4  and 
one  of  the  largest  rivers  flowing  into  the  bay  they  called 
James,  in  honor  of  their  king.  Sailing  up  this  for  fifty 
miles  they  selected  a  place  for  settlement  and  called  it 
Jamestown. 

An  inventory  of  the  settlers  shows  that  they  were  ill- 
fitted  for  the  task  which  they  had  undertaken.     Fifty-five, 

s  Doyle,  "  English  Colonies  in  America,"  vol.  i.  p.  128. 

*  Bancroft,  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  i.  p.  124;  Brown,  "  Genesis 
of  the  United  States,"  vol.  i.  pp.  151  et  seq. 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES 


107 


more  than  half  the  entire  number,  were  ranked  as  "  gentle- 
men," that  is,  men  disdaining  labor,  and  out  for  adventure: 
a  London  tailor,  a  barber  and  a  perfumer  were  sent  along  to 
look  after  the  wants  of  these  gentlemen.     Twelve  laborers 


Captain  John  Smith 

From  an  engraving  in  his  "  History  of  Virginia,"  Lenox 

Library 

and  a  few  artisans  were  expected  to  furnish  the  necessary- 
brawn  and  sinew.  There  wasaiot  a  womaji  in  the  company. 
The  place  selected  for  the  town,  a  malarial  peninsula,  chosen 
in  flat  contradiction  to  the  instructions  of  the  Virginia  coun- 
cil, was  no  better  suited  to  colony-building  than  the  men  who 
settled  there. 

However,  the  company  contained  a  few  men  of  worth, 


108  THE    UNITED    STATES 

among  them  John  Smith,  whose  life,  says  Fiske,  reads  like  a 
chapter  from  "  The  Cloister  and  the  Hearth,"  and  but  for 
whose  presence  and  foresight  the  colony  would  have  met  the 
fate  of  Raleigh's  earlier  experiment.  The  thirst  for  gold 
was  still  strong,  and  the  settlers  were  instructed  to  find  this 
and  also  a  way  to  India.  So  that  while  others  were  engaged 
in  erecting  huts  or  stretching  tents,  Captain  Newport  and 
Smith  went  up  the  river  on  this  quest,  but  after  a  conference 
with  the  Indian  chief,  Powhatan,  the  supreme  ruler  in  these 
parts,  turned  back  at  the  falls  where  Richmond  now  stands 
and  returned  to  Jamestown.5 

Shortly  thereafter  Newport  sailed  for  England  with  a 
batch  of  cheerful  reports  and  a  quantity  of  ore  which  proved 
to  have  been  "  taken  from  the  wrong  heap,"  It  was  hardly 
reasonable  to  expect  that  such  a  company  would  be  har- 
monious. Dissensions  had  broken  out  on  shipboard,  where 
Smith  was  kept  in  irons  for  a  month  mainly  on  account  of 
jealousy,  and  was  actually  excluded  from  the  council,  of 
which  he  had  been  appointed  a  member,  for  another  month 
after  landing.  After  the  departure  of  Newport  in  July 
the  dissensions  increased  and  the  troubles  of  the  colonists 
grew  apace.  To  internal  trouble  was  added  the  haunting  fear 
of  Indian  attacks,  for,  in  spite  of  special  instructions  to  that 
end,  some  of  the  red  men  had  not  been  well  treated  by  the 
newcomers.  Heat,  famine,  andv  fever  niade  deadly  work, 
and  by  the  end  of  Septeniber  about  half  the  colonists  had 
succumbed. 

Fortunately  for  the  colonists  Smith  was  among  the  sur- 
vivors. Several  of  his  enemies  had  perished  and  this  made 
it  all  the  easier  for  him  to  gain  the  ascendency.  The  story 
of  his  career  for  the  next  two  years  forms  one  of  the  most 
romantic  pages  in  American  history.     He  has  left  us  an  ac- 

5  Eggleston,  "  Beginners  of  a  Nation,"  pp.  32-38 ;  Fiske,  "  Old  Virginia  and 
Her  Neighbors,"  vol.  i.  pp.  82-85. 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES  109 

count  of  a  still  more  remarkable  career  preceding  this  in 
Europe  and  Asia  Minor,  so  remarkable,  indeed,  that  its 
credibility  has  been  seriously  doubted  by  careful  critics. 
There  is  no  question  that  he  was  a  vain  fellow,  a  sort  of 
"  braggart  captain  ";  but  neither  is  there  any  doubt  that  he 


*  Pocahontas 

After  a  contemporary  painting  executed  in  England 

was  a  remarkable  man,  a  true  Elizabethan  Englishman,  and 
that  there  is  a  considerable  element  of  truth  in  his  narrative 
of  his  own  exploits. 

The  first  incident  of  consequence  was  his  capture  by  the 
Indians  while  searching  for  the  Pacific.  The  story  of  his 
release  by  the  chief  Powhatan  at  the  intercession  of  Pocahon- 


p 


110  THE    UNITED    STATES 

tas  is  familiar  to  every  American  schoolboy.  The  Pocahon- 
tas part  is  now  generally  discredited,  but  there  is  no  reason 
to  doubt  the  story  of  Smith's  capture.  Certain  it  is  that  he 
rendered  invaluable  aid  to  the  colonists  by  keeping  the  peace 
with  the  Indians  and  by  securing  from  them  corn  sufficient 
to  preserve  the  life  of  the  thirty-eight  settlers  still  alive  when 
/  Newport  returned  in  January,  1608.  He  ruled  like  a  mili- 
tary despot,  but  nothing  else  would  have  saved  the  colony. 
He  set  the  "  gentlemen  "  to  work,  declaring  that  "  he  who 
will  not  work  shall  not  eat."  Before  leaving  Virginia  he  had 
thoroughly  explored  the  Chesapeake  Bay  and  its  environs 
and  made  an  excellent  map  of  it.    His  enemies  at  last  gained 

'  the  ascendency,  and  he  was  practically  driven  out  of  the 
colony  in  the  fall  of  1609,  never  to  return.  Nevertheless  he 
afterwards  made  several  visits  to  America,  explored  the  New 
England  coast  and  published  accounts  of  his  explorations. 
The  year  1609  was  notable  to  Virginia  in  that  it  brought 
a  new  and  more  liberal  charter  for  the  colonists.  The  coun- 
cil in  England  was  originally  distinct  from  the  company, 
but  it  now  became  a  part  of  it.  A  governor  took  the  place 
of  the  council  resident  in  the  colony  and  the  whole  govern- 
l  ment  of  the  corporation  and  its  colony  was  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  stockholders.     The  boundaries  were  vaguely 

\     defined  as  extending  two  hundred  miles  each  way  from  Old 
—Point  Comfort,  and  "  up  into  the  land  throughout  from  sea 

/   .  to  sea,  west  and  northwest."    Here  was  a  basis  for  the  future 

lv     English  claim  to  the  Northwest  Territory. 

Lord  de  la  Warr,  or  Delaware,  became  the  governor  un- 
der the  new  charter  and  embarked  with  five  hundred  men  and 
women,  but  was  delayed  many  months  by  terrible  storms. 
Meantime  there  came,  in  1609-1610,  the  awful  "starving 
time"  for  Virginia.  Men  were  so  crazed  by  hunger  that 
some  were  driven  to  dig  up  and  eat  the  putrid  remains  of 
their  own  dead  after  they  had  consumed  all  their  brood  hogs, 


1 1 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES  113 

their  horses  and  dogs,  and  every  rat,  mouse  or  adder  that 
could  be  found.  Some  died  while  wandering  about  in  the 
woods  in  search  of  food ;  others  in  sheer  desperation  threw 
themselves  upon  the  tender  mercies  of  the  Indians  and  were 
slain.  Of  the  five  hundred  settlers  in  the  colony  when  Smith 
left  only  sixty  half-starved  wretches  were  alive  in  the  spring 
of  1610,  and  these  would  probably  have  succumbed  within  a 
few  days  had  not  help  soon  arrived.  In  their  despair  they 
determined  to  abandon  the  colony,  and  crowding  themselves 
with  their  few  remaining'  provisions  into  four  pinnaces,  two 
of  them  improvised  for  the  purpose,  they  sailed  down  the 
river  for  England,  but  near  the  mouth  met  Delaware  with 

jrecruits^  and  supplies  and  returned  to  Jamestown  to  face 
again  the  horrors  of  life  in  this  pestilential  Virginia  swamp. 
Delaware  next  went  up  the  James  to  chase  the  ever-re- 
ceding rainbow  which  marked  the  site  of  the  gold-fields,  only 
to  be  driven  back  by  men  of  copper  hue.6  Under  his  manage- 
ment conditions  improved  a  little,  however,  but  he  left  in  less 
than  a  year  and  was  succeededjby  Sir  Thomas  Dale  (1611)., 
a  soldier  who  had  served  against  the  Spanish  in  the  Nether- 
lands.    Dale  came  out  clothed  with  authority  to  rule  by  mar- 

JtiaLlaw,  and  he  appears  to  have  stretched  his  authority  to  the 
uttermost.  He  inflicted  the  death  penalty  for  blasphemy, 
disrespect  to  the  public  authorities  and  many  other  offenses 
that  would  now  go  unnoticed.  Under  his  pitiless  rule  the 
colony  became  half  military  camp  and  half  penal  colony. 
His  little  finger  proved  to  be  heavier  than  the  loins  of  his 
predecessors.  Whether  the  rod  of  iron  was  necessary  to  the 
life  of  the  colony  or  not,  it  is  certain  that  at  the  end  of  five 
years  Dale  left  the  settlement  in  a  better  condition  than  he 
found  it,7  even  though  the  settlers  always  alluded  to  the 

«  For  an  interesting  account  of  the  illusions  of  the  colonists  in  this  respect, 
see  Eggleston's  "Beginners  of  a  Nation,"  ch.  iii.;  see  also  Fiske,  "Old  Virginia 
and  Her  Neighbors,"  vol.  i.  pp.  122-123. 

7  Read  Bruce,  "  Economic  History  of  Virginia,"  vol.  i.  pp.  215  et  seq. 


114 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


period  as  "  five  years  of  slavery."     He  also  established  other 
settlements  along  the  James. 

One  of  his  best  services  to  the  colony  was  the  termina- 
tion of  the  communal  system,  under  which  the  fruits  of 
each  man's  labor  went  to  the  common  stock  and  the 
settlers  were  fed  and  clothed  from  a  common  store- 
house.     It  had  been  limited  to  five  years  as  an  experi- 


Ruins  of  Jamestown- 
From  a  recent  photograph 


ment,  but  Dale  began  its  extinction  before  the  expiration  of 
that  time  by  assigning  to  each  settler  three  acres,  the  pro- 
ceeds of  which  were  to  be  his  own,  though  he  was  still  to 
labor  for  the  community.  Even  this  three  acres  of  private 
right  put  so  much  more  life  in  the  colony  that  private  owner- 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES 

ship  was  destined  to  become  the  rule.  Another  event  of  im- 
portance which  occurred  during  Dale's  administration  was 
the  introduction  of  the  cultivation  of  tobacco.  At  first 
the  Virginia  product  was  unsuited  for  the  English  market 
on  account  of  its  bitter  taste,  but  through  the  aid  of  John 
Rolfe  the  settlers  were  taught  how  to  cure  it  for  export. 
The  use  of  this  weed  had  spread  so  rapidly  after  its  dis- 
covery, and  its  cultivation  in  Virginia  was  so  easy,  that  the 
economic  success  of  the  colony  was  now  assured.8  As  early 
as  1620  40,000  pounds  were  annually  being  shipped  to 
England. 

The  year  1619  is  remarkable  in  the  history,  not  only  of 
Virginia,  but  also  of  America,  for  the  introduction  of  two 
systems  diametrically  opposed  —  slavery  and  democracy.  < 
Both  made  a  profound  impression  onThe  future  life  of  a 
great  nation,  and  more  than  two  hundred  years  later  the 
former  perished  at  the  hands  of  the  latter,    There  were  in 

jleed  servants  in  the  colony  before  this,  but  this  year  marked 
the  coming  of  a  negro  slave  in  a  Dutch  ship,  which  arrived  at 
Jamestown  bringing  negroes  for  the  use  of  the  settlers. 
The  number  of  negroes  increased  slowly,  for  the  demand  was 
inconsiderable,  and  as  late  as  1661  there  were  only  two  thou- 
sand in  the  colony,  while  the  indented  white  servants  num- 
bered_ejght :  thousand.9 

The  charter  of  1609  had  been  followed  by  one  still  more 
liberal  in  1612.  On  November  13,  J1618,  the  Virginia  Com- 
pany issued  to  the  colonists' a  Great  Charter  or  Commis- 
sions of  Privileges,  Orders,  and  Laws,"  which  limited  the 
power  of  the  governor  and  established  a  legislature  repre- 

_senting^  the  "  cities,"  "  plantations,"  and  "  hundreds,"  The 
first  legislature,  or  "  House  of  Burgesses,"  as  it  was  called 
in  Virginia,  ever  assembled  in  America  met  at  Jamestown 

8  Read  Bruce,  "  Economic  History  of  Virginia,"  vol.  i.  ch.  vi. 
(•JDoyle,  "  English  Colonies  in  America,"  vol.  i.  p.  385. 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


Copyright,  1905,  by  John  D.  Morris  &  Company 

Colonists  Watching  Departure  of  Vessel  for  England  ■ 
After  the  painting  by  G.  H.  Boughton 

jnjiilyv  1619.  It  consisted  of  the  governor,  the  councilors 
and  twenty-two  burgesses  popularly  elected  from  eleven 
xj  plantations  j)r hundreds.  Such  was  th*  beginning  of  the 
present  American  system  of  an  executive  and  a  bicameral 
legislature,  thougnTn  Virginia  the  council  and  the  burgesses, 
together  with  the  governor,  continued  to  sit  as  one  body  for  a 
number  of  years.  A  little  more  than  a  year  later  the  prin- 
ciple of  democracy  gained  more  recruits  in  the  New  England 
Pilgrims.  In  1621  the  Virginia  colony  was  given  a  sort  of 
written  pledge  guaranteeing  these  privileges.  It  even  pro- 
vided that  no  order  of  the  London  Company  should  bind 
the  settlers  unless  ratified  by  their  general  assembly  of  the 
Company.  Thus  was  Virginia  made  the  nursery  of  free- 
men in  the  very  beginning  of  colonization.10 

Another  event  of  importance  in  the  year  1619  was  th§ 
coming    to    Virginia    of   ninety    women,    "  young^Jiand- 

10  Bancroft,   "History  of  the   United   States,"   vol.   i.  p.   118;   Fiske,  "Old 
Virginia  and  Her  Neighbors,"  vol.  i.  pp.  243-245. 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES  117 

jsome  and  well  recommended,' '  to  be  wooed  and  won  by  the 
bachelor  planters ;  for,  according  to  the  quaint  phrase  of  the 
time,  "  a  plantation  can  never  flourish  till  families  be  planted 
and  the  respects  of  wives  and  children  fix  the  people  in  the 
soyle."  "  The  first  shipload  of  maidens  did  not  prove  a 
drug  on  the  market;  the  cost  of  their  transportation  was 
quickly  defrayed  by  the  anxious  bachelors  of  Jamestown, 
and  after  the  necessary  consent  was  gained,  marriages 
promptly  followed.  The  supply  was  not  equal  to  the  de- 
mand, and  soon  other  shiploads  arrived  in  the  colony,  and 
were  easily  disposed  of  to  the  eager  suitors  who  gathered 
about  the  wharf  on  such  occasions,  With  wives,  mothers 
and  children  in  the  colony  the  rude  huts  of  the  settlers  be- 
came happy  homes,  and  soon  no  one  any  longer  dreamed  of  ^/ 
returning  to  England.  Three  years  later  the  first  great  In- 
dian massacre  occurred,  which  was  a  great  blow  to  the  pro- 
gress of  the  colony-  Powhatan,  the  Indian  potentate  of 
this  region,  who  had  been  friendly  to  the  English, 
had  recently  died^  His  brother  and  successor,  Opechan- 
canough,  had  never  shared  Powhatan's  love  for  the  settlers, 
and  now  led  an  attack  in  which  three  hundred  and  forty- 
seven  of  them  perished;  but  the  whites  soon  returned  the  blow 
with  even  more  deadly  effect.  There  were  now  only  about 
twelve  hundred  persons  in  the  colony  out  of  more  than  <s 
_sJXLthousand  that  had  landed  in  Virginiaj3ince_1607.  Four- 
_fifths  of  the  early  comers  had  perished;  but  if  we  may  be- 
lieve the  writers  of  the  time  the  high  mortality  was  a  good 
riddance  of  bad  rubbish. 

The  massacre  was  one  of  the  reasons  given  by  the  crown 
for  annulling  the  charter  of  the  Virginia  Company  in  1624, 
and  the  reduction  of  the  colony  to  the  position  of  a  royal 
province.  A  stronger  reason,  probably,  was  that  the  Puritan 
element,  which  was  so  troublesome  in  Parliament,  had  gained 

11  Eggleston,  "  Beginners  of  a  Nation,"  p.  57. 


118  THE    UNITED    STATES 

the  ascendency  in  the  Company.  When  threatened  with  the 
loss  of  their  liberties  and  the  reestablishment  of  the  old 
tyranny  the  previous  year,  the  colonists  petitioned  the  king, 
saying :  "  Rather  than  be  reduced  to  live  under  such  a  gov- 
ernment, we  desire  his  majesty  that  commissioners  may  be 
sent  over  to  hang  us."  However,  the  colonists  were  hardly 
any  the  worse  off  for  the  change.  If  James  had  any  designs 
on  Virginia  he  was  unable  to  carry  them  out,  for  he  died 
shortly  afterward.  Charles  soon  had  enough  at  home  to  keep 
him  busy,  and  government  in  Virginia  went  on  very  much 
as  it  had  done  before.  One  result  of  the  change  from  a  cor- 
porate to  a  royal  province  was  that  the  public  officers  were 
now  dependent  on  the  crown,  and  the  colonists  were  thus  de- 
prived of  any  control  over  their  conduct  and  also  over  the 
public  expenditures.  This  soon  became  a  grievance,  and  re- 
mained a  cause  of  complaint  until  the  Revolution. 

Among  the  Virginia  executives  Sir  George  Yeardley, 
who  was  governor  when  the  first  assembly  met,  deserves  at 
least  to  be  mentioned  by  name. _  He  was  a  judicious  execu- 
tive and  the  colony  prospered  under  his  rule.  He  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  number  of  governors  of  varying  temper  and 
ability  until  Sir  William  Berkeley,  a  rough  old  cavalier,  was 
sent  over  in  1642.  With  the  exception  of  a  few  years  dur- 
ing the  Commonwealth  he  held  office  until  1677,  during  all 
of  which  time  he  ruled  the  colony  with  a  strong  but  masterful 
hand.  Soon  after  his  arrival  occurred  a  second  great  In- 
dian uprising  (1644),  which  he  put  down  with  vigor,  among 
the  Indians  slain  being  the  aged  chief,  Opechancanough,  who 
had  led  the  first  attack  against  the  settlers  in  1622.  The 
Puritans  were  becoming  stronger  and  stronger  in  England, 
and  in  1649  they  compassed  the  death  of  King  Charles  I. 
His  son  was  invited  to  Virginia  by  Berkeley,  who,  with  most 
of  the  Virginians,  sympathized  with  the  Cavaliers,  but  he 
never  came.     Commissioners  from  Parliament,  however,  ar- 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES 


119 


rived  in  1652  and  reorganized  the  colonial  government  with 
the  Puritan  element  in  charge.  But  the  change  of  masters 
from  king  to  Parliament  was  probably  to  the  advantage  of 
the  colonists,  since  they  were  allowed  greater  freedom  in  the 


Copyright,  1905,  by  John  D.  Morris  &  Company 

Indian    Massacre   at   Jamestown 
Painting  by  F.  O.  C.  Darley 

management  of  their  own  affairs  and  an  era  of  prosperity 
soon  set  in. 

The  period  of  the  Commonwealth  in  England  was  also 
a  period  of  Commonwealth  in  Virginia.  In  addition  to  their 
burgesses  the  colonists  now  elected  their  governor  and  coun- 
cil. Another  important  effect  of  the  Puritan  ascendency 
in  England  was  the  exodus  of  Cavaliers  by  the  thousand  t( 
Virginia.  InJ649  the  population  of  the  colony  was  esti- 
jnatejLat-45,000  English  and  300  negro  slaves.12.  By  1670 
the  population  had  risen  ioJD&OQ,    The  Cavaliers  who  came 

12 Doyle,  "English  Colonies  in  America,"  vol.  i.  p.  207;  Fiske,  "Old  Virginia 
and  Her  Neighbors,"  vol.  ii.  ch.  xi. 


120 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


over  at  this  time  were  of  a  better  class  than  the  "  gentlemen  " 
who  came  in  the  earlier  years  of  the  colony.  Some  of  the 
most  famous  names  in  the  history  of  Virginia  and  of  the 
United  States,  such  as  Washington,  Madison,  Monroe,  Mar- 
shall and  others,  then  first  became  known  in  America. 

The  restoration  of  the  Stuarts  in  1660  brought  only  ill 
to  the  colonists,  although  they  might  reasonably  have  ex- 


'f 


Charles  I. 
Painting  by  Sir  Anthony  Van  Dyck,  Dresden 

pected  fair  treatment  at  the  hands  of  Charles  II.  The  offices 
were  given  to  profligate  favorites  of  the  king;  dissenters, 
who  had  flocked  to  Virginia  as  a  place  of  refuge,  were  re- 
pressed by  harsh  measures,  and  the  Navigation  Act,  which 
is  described  elsewhere,  was  enforced  with  rigor.  These  and 
other  acts  of  repression  finally  led  to  a  rebellion  (1663) ,  but 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES  121 

this  was  soon  put  down  and  the  leaders  were  hanged.  In 
1673,  with  a  reckless  disregard  of  vested  rights,  Charles 
granted  the  whole  of  Virginia  to  two  of  his  favorites,  Lords 
^Arlington  and  Culpepper.  But  the  colonists  resisted  and 
the  patentees  surrendered  their  rights,  except  the  quit-rents 
and  escheats,  taking  in  lieu  thereof  a  duty  of  three^  half- 
pencejoerjound  on  tobacco.. 

With  the  restoration  of  the  Stuarts  came  also  the  resto- 
ration of  Berkeley.  Though  of  a  narrow  mind  an<i  hot 
temper,  his  personal  qualities  had  been  such  as  to  make  him 
popular  with  a  large  party  in  Virginia  and  tolerable  to  all. 
But  the  sufferings  of  his  party  during  the  Commonwealth 
seem  to  have  embittered  him,  and  in  his  later  years  he  was 
little  better  than  a  rapacious  tyrant.  The  assembly  which 
recalled  him  sought  to  impose  a  condition  that  he  should 
call  one  every  two  years.  Soon  after  his  return  he  secured 
the  election  of  an  assembly  of  decidedly  royalist  tendencies, 
and  refused  to  order  another  election  for  fifteen  years.  The 
fires  of  discontent  smoldered  under  these  and  other  griev- 
ances, among  them  the  disfranchisement  of  all  except  land- 
holders and  householders,  and  certain  oppressive  measures 
of  taxation,  but  they  finally  broke  out  over  the  Indian 
question. 

The  Virginians  had  been  on  friendly  terms  with  the 
Indians  for  many  years,  and  the  assembly  had  passed  sev- 
eral laws  to  protect  the  red  men,  but  these  relations  were 
disturbed  in  1675.  Acts  of  reprisal  and  retaliation  followed 
one  another,  until  the  situation  became  unbearable.  Still  the 
governor  remained  inactive.  A^ young  lawyer  of  wealth  and 
popularity,  by  the  name  of  Nathaniel  Bacon,  then  raised  a 
company  and  asked  the  governor  for  a  commission  to  chastise 
the  Indians,  but  this  Berkeley  refused,  because,  as  some 
thought,  this  would  disturb  the  fur  trade,  in  which  he  had 
a  pecuniary  interest.     Bacon  then  marched  out  in  defiance 


\m  THE    UNITED    STATES 

of  the  governor,  and  the  governor  promptly  marched  after 
him.  Finding  that  the  temper  of  the  colonists  was  against 
him,  Berkeley  returned  to  Jamestown,  dissolved  the  old 
assembly,  and  ordered  a  new  election  (1676).  The  new 
assembly  passed  a  number  of  reform  measures,  voted  to 
carry  on  the  war  with  the  Indians,  nominated  Bacon  to 
command  the  expedition,  and  passed  an  act  of  indemnity. 
The  governor  was  now  brought  to  bay  by  Bacon  with  an 
armed  force;  but  a  reconciliation  was  patched  up,  the  com- 
mission granted,  and  Bacon  marched  off  to  fight  the  Indians. 
Berkeley  then  proclaimed  Bacon  a  rebel  and  a  traitor,  and 
called  out  the  militia,  but  they  were  in  no  mood  to  support 
him,  whereupon  Bacon  summoned  a  convention  to  meet  at 
Williamsburg.  Most  of  the  planters  in  that  neighborhood 
answered  the  summons  and  loyally  supported  Bacon,  except 
in  his  project  for  independence  of  the  Crown.  The  leader 
now  chastised  the  Indians,  returned  and  disbanded  most  of 
his  troops  before  learning  that  the  governor  was  still  after 
him.  Bacon  then  laid  siege  to  Jamestown,  captured  and 
burned  it,  but  died  of  malarial  fever  soon  after.  With  the 
death  of  Bacon  the  backbone  of  the  insurrection  was  broken. 
Twenty-three  of  his  followers  were  executed  in  cold  blood 
by  the  vindictive  old  governor.  On  hearing  of  his  tyrannical 
course  Charles  exclaimed,  "  That  old  fool  has  hanged  more 
men  in  that  naked  country  than  I  have  done  for  the  murder 
of  my  father."  He  was  immediately  recalled,  and  died  not 
long  afterwards  (1677). 

Soon  after  these  events,  Culpepper,  one  of  the  men  to 
whom  Charles  had  granted  the  whole  province,  came  out 
as  governor  (1679).  He  was  a  tyrant  even  more  rapacious 
than  Berkeley,  and  brought  on  a  rebellion  among  the  to- 
bacco planters  because  of  the  ruin  wrought  on*  their  industry 
by  his  attempt  to  regulate  prices  and  establish  ports  of  ship- 
ment.    The  rebellion  was  suppressed  and  a  number  of  the 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES  123 

leaders  were  hanged.  Some  of  Culpepper's  successors  were 
better  men,  but  none  of  them  could  be  described  as  really 
excellent  until  the  coming  of  Alexander  Spottswood,  who 
was  governor  from  1710  to  1722.  He  was  one  of  the  best 
of  a  long  line  of  colonial  governors  and  his  name  is  revered 
in  Virginia  even  to  this  day.  By  this  time  it  had  become 
customary  for  the  nominal  governor  to  reside  in  England, 
where  he  could  spend  his  salary  in  a  way  more  to  his  liking 
and  send  out  lieutenants  to  perform  his  duties. 

The  limits  of  this  work  do  not  allow  an  extended  dis- 
cussion of  the  policy  of  imperial  control,  but  a  word  must 
be  added  in  regard  to  the  commercial  policy  of  the  mother 
country  in  its  dealings  with  the  colonists.13  This  was  one 
of  restriction,  but  was  not  adopted  through  any  premed- 
itated tyranny  or  extortion;  it  was  a  part  of  the  accepted 
political  economy  of  the  day.  A  statute  of  Richard  II. 
had  restricted  exportation  to  "  ships  of  the  king's  ligeance." 
Under  Henry  VII.  and  Elizabeth  other  restrictions  were 
added,  and  these  were  imposed  upon  the  colonists.  The  cul- 
tivation of  tobacco  in  England  was  forbidden  for  the  benefit 
of  the  Virginia  Company,  but  a  limit  was  soon  put  upon  the 
amount  they  might  import.  The  colonists  then  sought  a 
market  in  Holland,  only  to  be  forbidden  to  sell  anywhere 
except  in  England.  In  1621  the  limitation  on  the  amount 
imported  was  removed.  The  colonists  had  evaded  the  Nav- 
igation Acts,  but  as  the  contest  between  the  English  and  the 
Dutch  for  supremacy  in  the  carrying  trade  became  sharper 
more  stringent  measures  were  adopted. 

In  1651,  during  the  Commonwealth,  a  Navigation  Act 
was  passed,  which  is  frequently  referred  to  as  the  begin- 
ning of  the  coercive  trade  measures  which  finally  led  to  the 
Revolution,  but  very  similar  Acts,  only  less  stringent,  had 

is  On  the  subject  of  Imperial  Control,  see  Greene,  "Provincial  America," 
ch.  ill. 


THE    UNITED    STATES 

been  passed  in  1645-1646.  By  the  Act  of  j.651  the  carrying, 
trade  to  and  from  the  colonies  was  restricted  to  English 
ships.  It  had  been  provided  at  the  start  that  the  colonists 
were  to  remain  Englishmen.  Likewise  their  vessels  were 
"  English  built,"  within  the  meaning  of  this  Act,  but  they 
were  required  to  land  their  goods  in  English  ports..  The 
law  was^reenacted  by  the  Cavaliers  after  the  Restoration 
(1660),  and  three  years  later  it  was  so  amended  as  practi- 
cally to  force  the  colonists  to  buy  all  their  wares  in  England. 
In  162^3  a  blow  was  dealt  at  inter-colonial  trade  by  levying 
heavy  duties  on  all  articles  which  could  be  supplied  in  Eng- 
land. And  so  the  work  went  on  until  stopped  forever  by  the 
Revolution.  Justice  to  the  mother  country  compels  admis- 
sion that  the  Acts  were  not  as  a  rule  rigidly  enforced  against 
the  colonistSo  Indeed,  they  were  not  enforced  at  all  during 
the  period  of  the  Commonwealth.14 

Taken  all  in  all,  Virginia  cannot  be  said  to  have  had 
smooth  sailing  during  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  In  consequence  immigration  fell  off,  but  the  pop- 
ulation still  numbered  nearly  one  hundred  thou  sand. at  jthe 
close  of  the  century,  and  nearly all jwera  English.  In  1700 
the  colony  received  an  infusion  of  Huguenot  blood,  and  in 
1730  the  Scotch-Irish  opened  up  the  Shenandoah  Valley. 
These  peoples  brought  with  them  new  ideas  of  religion  and 
new  modes  of  life,  but  Virginia  society  always  remained 
predominantly  English. 

Religion  and  education  were  not  wholly  neglected  in 
Virginia.  Indeed,  the  former,  for  a  time,  received  very 
minute  attention.  Services  were  held  under  a  tent  soon  after 
the  colonists  landed,  and  conformity  to  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land was  required.  Dale's  famous  (or  infamous)  martial 
code  required  attendance  on  the  daily  services  and  imposed 
the  penalty  of  death  for  failure  to  attend  on  Sunday,  but 

i*  Bancroft,  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  i.  150. 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES  (    125 


this  severity  was  soon  relaxed.15  Non-conformists  were 
persecuted,  but  the  Scotch  Presbyterians  finally  secured 
toleration. 

II 

MARYLAND 

The  founding  of  Maryland  marked  _a^  new  departure 
in  the  formLof  colonial  government,  for  the  plantation  and 
government  of  the  colony  were  both  entrusted  to  an  indi- 
vidual^ called  a  lord  proprietor. .  In  previous  cases  the  found- 
ing had  been  done  by  corporations.  The  model  for  the 
proprietary  colony  was  found  in  the  great  Palatinate  of 
Durham.16  In  medieval  times  kings  often  found  it  con- 
venient, especially  on  the  continent,  to  grant  powers  of 
government  that  were  almost  regal  in  extent  to  some  feudal 
lord  in  a  border  province,  such  territories  being  called  pala- 
tinates. The  object  of  this  was  to  erect  a  sort  of  buffer  state 
to  serve  as  a  protection  to  the  kingdom  from  invasion.  The 
county  of  Durham,  on  the  Scotch  border,  had  been  erected 
into  such  a  state  by  William  the  Conqueror,  and  still  re- 
tained much  of  its  old-time  independence  at  this  time.17 
This  was  now  taken  as  a  model  for  the  proprietary  province 
and  was  closely  followed  in  the  charter  of  Maryland. 

George  Calvert,  whom  King  James  had  raised  to  an 
Irish  peerage  with  the  title  of  Lord  Baltimore,  was  a  member 
of  the  London  Company  and  was  very  much  interested  in 
colonization,  his  first  two  attempts  having  failed,  one  in 
Newfoundland  because  of  the  inhospitable  climate  and  the 
opposition  of  the  French,  the  other  in  Virginia  because  of 
religious  intolerance.     Calvert,  having  become  a  Catholic, 

is  Doyle,  "  English  Colonies  in  America,"  vol.  i.  139. 

16  Fiske,  "  Old  Virginia  and  Her  Neighbors,"  vol.  i.  ch.  viii. 

17  See   Lapsley,    "  The    Palatinate   of   Durham,"   in   Harvard    Hist.    Studies, 
No.  viii. 


126 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


now  asked  for  a  slice  of  that  same  Virginia  territory  from 
which  he  had  been  driven  out  on  account  of  his  religious 
views.  He  was  granted  the  land  between  the  Potomac  River 
and  the  fortieth  parallel  of  latitude,  which  was  the  southern 
boundary  of  New  England,  and  asked  that  the  province 
be  named  Maryland  in  honor  of  his  queen,  Henrietta  Maria. 
Together  with  the  grant  he  also  acquired  a  boundary  dispute 
which  lasted  many  years,  for  the  western  limits  of  the  colony 

were  very  imperfectly  de- 
scribed. Calvert  had  in 
view  a  two-fold  object:  To 
found  a  great  state,  of 
which  he  should  be  the  ruler 
and  from  which  he  could 
secure  a  revenue*  and  to 
provide  a  refuge  for  his 
persecuted  fellow  Roman 
Catholics.  Upon  the  death 
of  the  elder  Calvert,  which 
occurred  before  the  grant 
had  passed  the  Great  Seal, 
his  plans  were  immediately 
taken  up  by  his  son  Cecilius, 
to  whom  the  patent  was 
now  issued.  He  was  an  as- 
tute, able,  and  tactful  individual,  and  like  his  father  was  a 
Roman  Catholic  in  religion.  Never  visiting  Mari 
was,  says  Channing,  the  most  successful  absentee  landlorc 
of  his  day.18 

The  terms  of  the  charter  showed  clearly  that  an  attempt 
was  being  made  to  transplant  feudalism,  including  the 
manorial  system,  to  America.    It  defined  the  relations  of  the 

is  "History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  i.  p.  250;  see  also  Bernard  Steiner, 
"  Beginnings  of  Maryland,"  in  Johns  Hopkins  University  Studies,  vol.  xxi.  p.  368. 


Henrietta  Maria 
After  a  painting  by  Sir  Anthony  Van  Dyck 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES  127 

proprietor  to  the  king  and  to  his  subjects.  He  was  to  send 
the  king  two  Indian  arrows  each  year  and  one-fifth  of  all 
the  gold  and  silver  mined  in  the  province;  but  with  this  ex- 
ception he  was  to  beu  practically  a  king  himself  with  inde- 
pendent powers.  He  was  given  the  right  to  declare  war, 
make  peace,  appoint  all  officers,  from  the  lowest  to  the  high- 


George  Calvert,  First  Lord  Baltimore 

Replica   presented   to   the   State   of   Maryland 

by  his  descendants,  and  preserved  at 

Annapolis,  Maryland 

est,  proclaim  martial  law,  confer  titles,  grant  pardons,  etc. 
But  this  despotism  was  mixed  with  a  little  democracy,  which 
soon  leavened  the  whole  lump  for  the  proprietor,  for  he  was 
to  summon  the  freemen  to  assist  him  in  making  laws,  and 
was  forbidden  to  tax  them  without  their  consent.  Lord 
Baltimore  attempted  to  initiate  legislation  himself,  leaving 
to  the  colonists  only  the  right  of  assent,  but  they  resisted  at 
the  outset  and  soon  won. 

Baltimore  was  a  tolerant  man,  but  it  is  not  wholly  due 


128  THE    UNITED    STATES 

to  this  fact  that  Maryland  became  the  first  colony  where 
religious  toleration  was  nominally  practiced.  The  Catholic 
minority,  represented  by  the  proprietors,  were  in  control, 
but  still  a  minority,  and  a  minority  can  always  be  trusted  to 
be  tolerant  when  they  are  at  the  mercy  of  a  majority.  More- 
over, the  charter  itself  provided  that  all  churches  should  be 
consecrated  according  to  the  laws  of  the  Church  of  England, 
although  this  probably  was  intended  merely  to  guard  against 
making  Catholicism  an  established  religion.  Had  Calvert 
attempted  to  exclude  Protestants,  he  would  only  have  raised 
a  storm  of  opposition  both  in  Maryland  and  in  England, 
which  would  have  been  fatal  to  his  whole  project.  It  was  all 
these  reasons  combined  which  for  a  time  made  Maryland, 
in  practice,  a  colony  of  religious  freedom. 

In  March,  lg§4,  Leonard  Calvert,  brother  to  the  pro- 
prietor, arrived  in  Maryland,  bringing  about  two  hundred 
settlers  on  two  small  vessels,  the  Ark  and  the  Dove.  The 
material  for  the  new  colony  consisted  of  some  twenty  gentle- 
men; the  rest  were  laboring  men  and  artisans.  Most  of 
the  gentlemen  were  Roman  Catholics,  while  a  majority  of  the 
laborers  were  probably  Protestants.19  They  gained  the 
friendship  of  the  Indians  at  the  outset  by  purchasing  their 
land  and  by  treating  them  kindly,  a  relation  which  was  not 
seriously  disturbed  for  many  years.  Soon  after  his  arrival, 
Governor  Calvert  paid  a  visit  to  the  "  Emperor  of  Pas- 
catacacy,"  as  the  Indian  chief  who  exercised  sovereignty 
over  the  adjacent  forests  was  called,  and  received  a  hospit- 
able welcome  from  this  dusky  potentate.  He  not  only  gave 
the  newcomers  permission  to  settle  on  his  lands,  but  placed 
at  their  disposal  one-half  the  huts  of  the  village  and  did  all 
in  his  power  to  make  them  comfortable  and  happy.  The 
first  settlement  was  made  at  St.  Mary's,  on  an  island  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Potomac,  and,  the  colonists  being  thrifty  and 

i»  Browne,  "  History  of  Maryland,"  p.  23. 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES 


129 


aided  by  very  favorable  auspices,  prospered,  at  least  for  a 
time. 

Unfortunately  a  disturbing  element  was  found  in  the 
nearness  of  the  Virginians.  In  the  first  place  these  good 
churchmen  were  not  pleased  with  the  prospect  of  having 
Papists  for  near  neighbors.  Besides,  the  country  now  called 
Maryland  had  been  included  in  the  grant  made  to  them  by 
the  charter  of  1609.    By  the  annulment  of  their  charter  in 


Map  of  Maryland  in  1635 
From  the  original  in  the  Lenox  Library,  New  York 

1624  the  province  had  indeed  reverted  to  the  Crown,  but 
the  Virginians  still  felt  that  this  territory  was  rightfully 
theirs.  More  than  a  year  before  the  grant  was  made  to 
Calvert,  one  of  their  number,  William  Claiborne,  originally 
a  surveyor  of  Jamestown,  later  treasurer  of  the  colony,  had 
settled  on  Kent  Island,  in  the  upper  Chesapeake,  within  the 


130  THE    UNITED    STATES 

bounds  of  Maryland.  Baltimore's  attempt  to  subject  him 
to  his  government  was  resisted  and  brought  on  a  chronic 
state  of  trouble  which  lasted  for  more  than  ten  years.  Some 
times  it  broke  out  into  open  war,  in  the  course  of  which  men 
on  both  sides  were  killed  or  wounded  and  others  were  hanged 
as  pirates.  In  1645  Claiborne  succeeded  in  driving  out  Cal- 
vert and  attempted  to  take  the  government  of  Maryland 
in  charge,  but  the  latter  found  refuge  in  Virginia — a  fact 
which  shows  that  neither  the  government  of  Virginia  nor  the 
people  as  a  whole  was  very  hostile  to  him — and  soon  after 
recovered  his  own,  permanently  subjecting  Kent  Island  to 
his  .control.  Claiborne  was  attainted  by  the  Maryland  assem- 
bly and  his  property  declared  forfeited.  The  controversy 
ultimately  was  carried  to  the  English  courts  and  a  decision 
followed  in  due  course  establishing  Baltimore's  title  to  Kent 
Island,  at  least  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  lawyers.20 

The  evolution  of  the  Maryland  legislature  had  a  curious 
history.  At  first  it  was  a  primary  assembly  in  which  every 
freeman  might  be  represented  by  proxy.  As  a  result  of  this 
practice,  the  governor  and  the  secretary,  both  of  whom  were 
appointees  of  the  proprietor,  sometimes  held  enough  proxies^ 
from  absent  freemen  to  outvote  all  those  present.  On  one 
occasion  a  freeman  held  seventy-odd  proxies,  which  gave  him 
control  of  the  assembly.  Later  representation  became  the 
rule,  but  freemen  might,  and  actually  did,  claim  the  right  to 
sit  in  person.  In  1647  the  purely  representative  system  was 
adopted,  and  three  years  later  the  legislature  was  made 
bicameral.21 

The  Protestant  party  grew  apace  in  Maryland  as  the 
religious  troubles  became  more  acute  in  England.  The  tol- 
eration practiced  by  the  proprietor  from  the  first  was  now 
enacted  by  statute.    This  famous  "  Toleration  Act,"  passed 

20  Channing,  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  i.  p.  258. 

21  See  Mereness,  "  Maryland  as  a  Proprietary  Province,"  p.  196. 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES 


131 


in  1649,  provided  that  no  one  professing  Christianity  should 
"  in  any  ways  be  molested  or  discountenanced  for  or  in 
respect  of  his  or  her  religion  nor  in  the  free  exercise  thereof." 
But  one  was  required  to  be  a  Christian  of  some  sort,  or  keep 
a  bridle  on  his  tongue,  for  there  were  severe  laws  against 
blasphemers  and  prof  aners  and  gossipers,  and,  indeed,  Jews, 
Unitarians  and  others  were  excepted  from  its  benefits.    This 
seems  to  have  been  a  sort  of  a  compromise  between  the 
Catholics  and  Protestants,  but  during  the  period  of  the  Com- 
monwealth the  dissensions  between  them  became  so  violent 
that  civil  war  broke  out.    The  Puritans  rejected  the  Toler- 
ation   Act    and    passed    one 
tolerating     everybody,     says 
Fiske,     "  except      Catholics, 
Episcopalians,        and     any- 
body    else     who     disagreed 
with    them."     In  a  pitched 
battle      they    defeated     the 
Catholics     and     imprisoned 
the  governor,    Stone,    Leon- 
ard       Calvert's       successor, 
who,    though    a    Protestant, 
sided   with    the    proprietor. 
Cromwell    now    appears    to 
have  thought  that  the  Par- 
liamentary      Commissioners 
had    gone  too  far,  and  the 
province     was     restored     to 
Lord      Baltimore       (1657), 
who     thereupon      promised 
never  to  repeal  the  law  granting  to  the  people  freedom  of 
worship. 

This  marked  the  beginning  of  another  era  of  prosperity 
for  the  colony.     In  1661  Charles  Calvert,  son  of  the  pro- 


Oliver  Cromwell 
After  painting  by  Pieter  Van  der  Faes, 
usually  attributed  to  Sir  Peter 
Lely,  Uffizi,  Florence 


132 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


prietor,  came  out  as  governor  and  served  ably  for  fourteen 
years,  or  until  the  death  of  his  father  (1675) ,  when  he  him- 
self became  the  proprietor.  Maryland  became  widely  known 
for  her  religious  freedom  and  this  attracted  to  her  borders 


William  Cecil,  Lord  Baltimore 
Son  of  the  founder  of  Maryland 

many  Quakers,  Dutch,  Germans,  and  Huguenots,  who  were 
seeking  homes  from  religious  persecution.  Still  the  colonists 
were  not  without  cause  for  complaint.  Among  their  griev- 
ances were  the  imposition  of  a  property  qualification  for 
suffrage,  the  boundary  dispute  with  William  Penn,  and 
the  enforcement  of  the  Navigation  Act.     The  last  in  par- 


PLANTING  OF  COLONIES       133 

ticular  was  galling  to  the  Marylanders,  as  they  originally 
enjoyed  freedom  of  trade. 

The  reign  of  James  II.  was  marked  by  the  revocation 
of  many  charters  and  Lord  Baltimore's  came  near  suffering 
a  like  fate,  but  was  saved  by  the  expulsion  of  James  him- 
self from  England  (lf>8§).  The  new  sovereigns,  William 
and  Mary,  seemed  not  to  have  been  favorably  impressed  with 
Lord  Baltimore  and  revoked  his  charter  in  1691,  reducing 
Maryland  to  the  position  of  a  royal  province.  Soon  after 
this  the  Church  of  England  was  established  by  law  and  the 
persecution  of  dissenters,  especially  Catholics,  was  begun. 
In  consequence  the  prosperity  of  the  colony  suffered  a  de- 
cline until  1715,  when  it  was  restored  to  the  fourth  Lord 
Baltimore,  who  had  become  a  Protestant.  It  remained  in 
the  hands  of  the  family  from  that  time  until  the  Revolution,22 


III 

THE    CARQLINAS 

The  attempts  of  Raleigh  and  of  the  French  Huguenots 
to  settle  Carolina  have  already  been  described.  Not  many 
years  elapsed  after  the  planting  of  Virginia  before  the  ad- 
venturous hunters  of  that  colony  were  familiar  with  the 
country  to  the  south  of  them  as  far  as  the  Chowan  River. 
In  1653  a  company  of  Virginia  dissenters,  led  by  Roger 
Green,  went  south  in  search  of  religious  freedom  and  set- 
tled on  the  Chowan  and  Roanoke  rivers.  This  settlement, 
called  Albemarle,  was  the  first  permanent  colony  within  the 
limits  of  the  present  State  of  North  Carolina.  Shortly  after- 
wards other  victims  of  religious  persecution  from  New  Eng- 

22  Read  Brantly,  "The  English  in  Maryland,"  in  Winsor,  "  Nar.  and  Crit 
Hist."  vol.  iii.  ch.  xiii.;  also  Eggleston,  "  Beginners  of  a  Nation,"  pp.  220-257. 


134 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


land  settled  on  the  Cape  Fear  River,  but  they  were  not  so 
careful  to  preserve  their  history  as  those  whom  they  left 
behind,  and  we  know  very  little  about  them.  By  some  act 
they  incurred  the  hostility  of  the  Indians  and  in  a  few  years 
the  survivors  abandoned  the  colony  or  were  absorbed  by  a 
company  of  settlers  from  the  Barbadoes  (1665)  led  by  Sir 
John  Yeamans.  ^ 

By  means  of  two  charters  (1663,  1665)  Charles  II. 
conveyed  to  a  coterie  of  his  favorites  the  vast  domain  lying 
between  Virginia  and  Florida,  that  is,  between  thirty-six 
degrees  thirty  minutes  and  the  twenty-ninth  degree  north 

latitude,  westward  to  the 
"  South  Sea,"  or  Pacific 
Ocean.  This  grant  insured  a 
boundary  dispute  with  the 
Spanish,  for  they  had  settled 
north  of  the  latter  line  one 
hundred  years  before.  Among 
the  proprietors  were  Sir  John 
Berkeley,  the  Duke  of  Albe- 
marle and  Lord  Ashley- Coop- 
er, afterwards  known  as  the 
Earl  of  Shaftesbury,  the  Earl 
of  Clarendon,  and  Sir  George 
Carteret.23  At  their  request 
John  Locke,  the  English 
philosopher,  drew  up  what 
was  perhaps  the  most  elab- 
orate and  complicated  scheme  of  government  ever  devised 
for  any  colony.  It  was  called  the  "  Fundamental  Con- 
stitution," or  "  Grand  Model."  The  colonists  were  to 
be  divided  into  four  estates  known  as  proprietaries,  land- 
graves, caciques  and  leet-men  or  commons.      Correspond- 

23  McCrady,  "  History  of  South  Carolina,"  pp.  61-65. 


Charles  II. 
After  painting  by  Adrian  Hanneman 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES  135 

ing  to  these  the  province  was  to  be  divided  into  seigniories, 
baronies,  precincts  and  colonies.  The  leet-men  were  to  be 
practically  serfs  bound  to  the  soil.  The  object  was  to 
establish  "  the  interests  of  the  lords  proprietors  "  and  a  gov- 
ernment "  most  agreeable  to  monarchy — and  that  we  may 
avoid  erecting  a  numerous  democracy."  But  the  forest  is 
inevitably  the  home  of  liberty,  and  this  mental  creation  of 
the  philosopher  fell  of  its  own  weight.  The  several  attempts 
made  to  put  it  in  force  only  irritated  the  colonists  and  it  was 
finally  abandoned.24 

One  William  Drummond,  a  Scotch  Presbyterian  clergy- 
man, became  the  first  governor  of  Albemarle,  as  the  colony 
was  called,  and  summoned  an  assembly  in  1667,  which  en- 
acted several  laws  for  the  purpose  of  attracting  settlers, 
among  them  one  containing  an  exemption  from  taxation  for 
a  year  and  release  for  five  years  from  liability  for  debts  con- 
tracted elsewhere.  In  derision  the  Virginians  named  the 
colony  "  Rogue's  Harbor,"  from  the  character  of  the  new- 
comers who  were  thus  attracted.  The  planting  of  a  more 
promising  colony  in  what  is  now  South  Carolina,  by  which 
the  Cape  Fear  settlement  was  soon  absorbed,  caused  the 
proprietors  to  neglect  Albemarle.  Owing  to  incapable  and 
dishonest  governors  of  the  Seth  Sothel  type,  the  prosperity, 
contentment  and  good  order  of  the  colony  was  greatly  re- 
tarded during  the  rest  of  the  century ;  population  diminished 
instead  of  increased,  and  many  of  those  remaining  moved 
back  into  the  forests  to  secure  their  freedom. 

The  two  settlements  thus  established  gradually  came  to 
be  known  as  North  and  South  Carolina,  but  their  govern- 
ments were  united  for  a  time  in  1695,  when  John  Archdale, 
a  good  Quaker  and  one  of  the  proprietors,  came  out  as 
governor  of  both  colonies.     During  the  next  fifteen  years 

24Fiske,  "Old  Virginia  and  Her  Neighbors,"  vol.  ii.  pp.  271-273;  McCrady, 
"  History  of  South  Carolina,"  ch.  iv. 


13b  THE    UNITED    STATES 

North  Carolina  received  many  new  settlers,  who  were  not 
rogues,  but  sturdy  Germans  and  honest  Huguenots.  This 
expansion  necessitated  encroachment  upon  the  lands  of  the 
red  man  and  brought  with  it  a  train  of  Indian  troubles.  In 
1711  the  Tuscaroras  and  other  Indians  fell  upon  the  settlers 
on  the  Roanoke  and  at  New  Berne  and  slaughtered  over 
two  hundred  of  them  in  cold  blood.25  But  a  stinging  blow 
was  inflicted  on  them  by  a  body  of  militia  under  John  Barn- 
well and  James  More  near  the  Neuse,  where  four  hun- 
dred braves  were  killed.  At  last  the  Tuscaroras  returned  to 
New  York,  whence  their  fathers  had  emigrated,  and  joined 
the  Iroquois,  or  Five  Nations,  thus  making  them  the  Six 
Nations. 

One  of  the  governors  of  North  Carolina,  Charles  Eden, 
deserves  mention  because  of  his  excellent  rule  (1714-1722), 
but  after  his  death  in  1729,  the  proprietors  meantime  having 
sold  out  to  the  Crown,  the  colonists  were  divided  into  North 
and  South  Carolina,  and  each  thenceforth  became  a  royal 
province.  After  that  the  governors  were  of  varying  ability 
and  morality.  Some  were  good,  but  many  were  incompetent 
and  rapacious.  Still  the  colony  waxed  stronger  with  every 
passing  year.  Germans  and  Scotch-Irish  came  down  from 
Pennsylvania  and  were  followed  by  a  few  "  poor  whites  " 
from  Virginia.26  They  settled  in  the  foothills  of  the  Blue 
Ridge  Mountains  and  gradually  pushed  westward  until  the 
summit  was  passed.  There  was  at  least  one  marked  differ- 
ence between  the  eastern  and  western  settlements.  The 
former  were  slaveholding,  while  the  latter  had  very  few 
slaves,  a  difference  partly  due  to  physical  conditions. 
Neither  was  noted  for  commercial  activity,  though  the 
eastern  settlements  carried  on  a  considerable  trade  with  the 

25  Rivers,  "  The  Carolinas,"  in  Winsor,  "  Nar.  and  Crit.  Hist."  vol.  iv.  p.  298. 

26  See  McCrady,  "South   Carolina   under   Royal   Government,"   vol.  ii.  pp. 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES 


137 


New  England  smugglers.  The  principal  industries  of  the 
colony  were  rice  and  tobacco  growing;  the  manufacture 
of  naval  stores,  particularly  tar.  pitch,  and  turpentine  from 
the  pine  forests,  and  the  raising  of  cattle  and  swine. 

The  first  permanent  colony  in  South  Carolina  was 
planted  on  the  bank  of  the  Ashley  River  in  1670  by  William 
Sayle,  who  brought  over 
three  shiploads  of  emi- 
grants from  the  Barba- 
does,  a  hundred  years 
after  Ribaut's  disastrous 
attempt  to  plant  a 
French  settlement  i  n 
these  parts.  The  next 
year  Sir  John  Yeamans 
joined  the  colony  with 
two  hundred  slaves,  and 
the  same  year  witnessed 
the  coming  of  two  ship- 
loads of  Dutch  emigrants 
from  New  York.  It 
was  the  policy  of  the 
proprietors  to  attract 
settlers  from  other  col- 
onies, and  they  also 
wished  to  have  them  grouped  about  some  urban  center.  A 
place  more  suitable  for  this  than  the  point  first  settled  was 
found  near  by,  and  the  seat  of  government,  together  with 
the  name,  Charleston,  was  transferred  hither  in  1680. 
Within  two  years  the  town  was  regularly  laid  off  with  wide 
and  uniform  streets.  Such  was  the  beginning  of  the 
Charleston  of  the  present  day.27 

The  one  redeeming  feature  of  the  "  Fundamental  Con- 

2T  Bancroft,  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  ii.  ch.  xiii. 


Author  of 


Sir  Johk  Locke 

Fundamental  Constitution"  or 
Grand   Model,"    for   the   Carolinas 
Painting  by  Sir  Godfrey  Kneller 


138  THE    UNITED    STATES 

stitution,"  was  its  promise  of  religious  freedom.  Even  be- 
fore the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  in  1685  French 
Huguenots  began  to  arrive  in  South  Carolina.  After  the 
revocation  they  came  in  large  numbers  and  had  no  little  in- 
fluence for  good  upon  the  character  of  the  colony,  for  they 
were  an  industrious,  intelligent,  and  virtuous  people.  Denied 
political  rights  for  a  time,  and  looked  upon  with  suspicion  by 
the  English  settlers  in  Carolina,  they  soon  came  to  be  ad- 
mired and  were  accorded  full  political  rights.  A  small 
company  of  Presbyterians  from  Scotland  planted  them- 
selves at  the  ill-starred  Port  Royal,  but  the  settlement  was 
soon  wiped  out  of  existence  by  Spaniards  from  St.  Augus- 
tine (1686). 

The  Spanish  were  jealous  of  these  encroaching  settle- 
ments and  also  irritated  because  pirates,  whom  they  believed 
to  be  sheltered  in  Charleston,  preyed  upon  their  commerce. 
The  English  settlers,  on  the  other  hand,  were  much  aggrieved 
when  the  proprietors  forbade  them  to  take  revenge  upon 
the  colony  of  a  nation  with  which  England  was  at  peace. 
In  1715  some  Irish  settled  in  the  region  of  Port  Royal, 
which  had  been  devastated  by  the  Spaniards  thirty  years 
previous.  All  the  settlements  at  this  time  were  still  on  the 
seaboard;  indeed,  the  back  country  was  held  by  the  Indians 
until  1755.  After  that  date  many  emigrants  from  the  other 
colonies  as  far  north  as  Pennsylvania  moved  into  this  region. 
By  1760  South  Carolina  contained  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  souls,  three-fourths  of  whom  were 
slaves. 

That  South  Carolina  was  so  distinctly  a  slave  State 
was  due  to  two  causes:  First,  her  early  settlers  were  from 
the  Barbadoes  and  were  thoroughly  imbued  with  belief  in 
the  slave  system;  and,  second,  it  was  due  to  the  climate 
and  the  physical  features  of  the  country,  which  largely  de- 
termined the  character  of  its  industries.     Rice  and  indigo 

r 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES  139 

were  the  chief  products.  Both,  especially  the  former,  grew 
best  in  marshy  ground,  and  the  white  man  could  not  endure 
so  well  as  the  negro  the  heat  and  the  malarial  atmosphere  of 
the  swamps  which  were  adapted  to  rice  culture.  But  for 
him  their  reclamation  would  probably  have  been  delayed 
many  years.  As  the  negro  showed  very  little  disposition  to 
labor  without  a  master,  there  seemed  to  be  no  alternative  for 
slavery,  if  a  rice  growing  colony  was  to  be  built  up  in  South 
Carolina. 

Unfortunately  the  settlers  from  the  Barbadoes  were 
only  too  familiar  with  the  Spanish  custom  of  enslaving  the 
Indians,  and  they  introduced  it  in  their  new  home.  So  late 
as  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  Indians  made  up 
one- fourth  of  the  slave  population,2>a  condition  which  could 
have  had  only  an  irritating  effect  on  the  relations  subsisting 
between  the  settlers  and  the  natives.  But  the  wily  Spaniard 
knew  how  to  make  the  simple  red  man  his  too),  and,  with  a 
shameless  disregard  of  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  proceeded  to 
do  so  for  the  purpose  of  destroying  the  English  settlements. 
The  war  began  in  1715,  when  the  Yamassees  fell  upon  the 
scattered  farmers  with  savage  fury  and  slew  nearly  one 
hundred  in  a  day.29  The  contest  lasted  ten  months,  but  the 
Indians  were  finally  defeated  and  driven  into  Florida. 
Charles  Craven,  who  was  governor  at  the  time,  played  a 
conspicuous  part  in  the  war  and  has  had  a  thread  of  romance 
woven  about  his  name  by  the  novelist,  William  Gilmore 
Simms. 

Like  her  nearest  neighbor  on  the  north,  South  Carolina 
had  a  varied  experience  with  her  governors.  Among  those 
of  merit  were  Archdale,  already  mentioned,  and  Joseph 
Blake,  a  nephew  of  Admiral  Blake,  who  swept  the  Dutch 
from  the  sea  in  the  war  between  England  and  Holland.  The 

28  Doyle,  "  English  Colonies  in  America,"  vol.  i.  p.  359. 

2»  Fiske,  "  Old  Virginia  and  Her  Neighbors,"  vol.  ii.  p.  306. 


140  THE    UNITED    STATES 

advent  of  Sir  Nathaniel  Johnson  in  1703  marked  the  begin- 
ning of  a  chronic  state  of  turbulence  lasting  for  some  time.30 
But  the  colonists  showed  themselves  in  every  way  capable 
of  coping  with  their  would-be  oppressors.  The  very  founda- 
tions of  the  colony  were  based  on  liberty,  and  it  was  main- 
tained by  a  popular  assembly  which  met  a  short  time  after 
the  first  settlers  arrived.  Here,  as  in  North  Carolina,  the 
"  Grand  Model  "  was  suspended  at  first  as  unsuited  to  an 
infant  colony.  In  1687  an  effort  was  made  by  the  pro- 
prietors to  put  it  in  operation,  but  the  people  resisted  and 
based  their  resistance  on  that  clause  of  the  charter  which 
declared  that  the  proprietors  should  make  laws  only  "  by 
and  with  the  advice,  assent  and  approbation  of  the  free- 
men. "  The  contest  lasted  several  years,  but  the  cause  of 
popular  government  won  and  the  "  Grand  Model "  was 
overthrown. 

The  early  years  of  the  colony  were  marked  by  a  con- 
flict over  the  religious  question.  Dissenters,  except  Cath- 
olics, had  been  tolerated  in  the  absence  of  legislation  against 
them.  About  this  time  Lord  Granville,  a  High  Churchman, 
gained  the  ascendency  among  the  proprietors  and  sought 
to  enforce  conformity  ainjmg  the  colonists.  The  dissenters 
had  shown  their  liberality  by  voting  money  to  support  the 
Church  of  England,  but  this  was  not  enough.  By  packing 
the  council  and  by  frauds  in  the  election  of  the  represent- 
atives, Governor  Johnson  secured  the  passage  of  an  Act 
in  1704  excluding  dissenters  from  the  assembly.  Several 
members  had  been  absent  when  the  Act  was  passed,  but  they 
took  their  seats  at  the  autumn  session  of  1706  and  voted  to 
repeal  the  obnoxious  measure.  The  governor  and  council 
opposed  it,  whereupon  the  colonists  sent  an  agent  to  appeal 
to  the  proprietors.  Meeting  with  no  success,  they  turned  to 
the  House  of  Lords,  who  recommended  the  veto  of  the  meas- 

30  See  W.  Roy  Smith,  "  South  Carolina  as  a  Royal  Province,"  p.  9. 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES  141 

lire  by  the  queen.  The  Board  of  Trade  even  favored  the 
forfeiture  of  the  charter,  but  only  the  Act  was  declared 
void.31  However,  the  Church  of  England  was  established 
by  law,  although  the  dissenters  appear  to  have  been  in  the 
majority — they  claimed  to  make  up  two-thirds  of  the  popu- 
lation and  continued  to  enjoy  this  advantage  until  the 
Revolution. 

Hardly  had  another  decade  passed  before  the  propri- 
etors had  forgotten  the  lesson  of  this  contest  and  were  again 
exasperating  the  settlers.  The  expense  of  the  war  with  the 
Yamassees  bore  heavily  upon  the  colonists  and  they,  with 
full  justice,  called  upon  the  proprietors  to  share  the  burden. 
But  this  the  proprietors  refused  to  do,  although  they  derived 
a  large  income  from  the  quit-rents ;  nor  would  they  allow  the 
assembly  to  levy  import  duties  or  sell  the  public  lands  for  this 
purpose.  Another  cause  of  irritation  was  the  fact  that  there 
was  only  one  polling  place  in  the  colony,  namely,  at  Charles- 
ton. Not  only  was  this  a  source  of  great  inconvenience  to 
the  settlers  of  the  outlying  districts,  but  it  also  gave  the 
official  party  an  undue  weight  of  influence.  At  length  a 
law  was  passed  substituting  local  representation  for  the  ex- 
isting method  of  election.  The  law  was  put  in  force  at  once 
and  a  new  assembly  was  elected  under  it,  but  the  proprietors 
vetoed  the  law  as  soon  as  it  reached  them  and  ordered  the 
governor  to  dissolve  the  assembly.  Remonstrance  produced 
no  effect.  In  1719  a  new  assembly  was  called,  but  it  was  no 
more  ready  to  submit  than  its  predecessor.  It  drew  up  a 
list  of  grievances  and  declared  that  the  rights  of  the  people 
had  been  violated,  especially  in  the  packing  of  the  council, 
which  made  it  an  illegal  body.  There  being  no  redress 
through  constitutional  forms,  it  assumed  constituent  powers, 
deposed  the  governor,  chose  another,  and  asked  the  Crown  to 
make  the  colony  a  royal  province  (1719) .    The  request  was 

3i  Doyle,  "English  Colonies  in  America,"  vol.  i.  p.  369. 


142  THE     UNITED       STATES 

granted,  the  political  rights  of  the  proprietors  were  an- 
nulled, and  their  territorial  rights  were  brought  up  under  an 
Act  of  Parliament. 

From  this  time  on  the  growth  of  the  colony  was  rapid 
and  continuous,  although  it  was  not  wholly  free  from  polit- 
ical unrest.  Indeed,  the  colonists  showed  no  more  fear  of 
the  royal  governors  than  they  had  of  the  proprietors,  and 
steadily  encroached  upon  their  powers.  In  1748  Governor 
Glenn  reported  that  the  people,  by  means  of  the  assembly, 
"  had  the  whole  of  the  administration  in  their  hands,  and  the 
governor,  and  thereby  the  Crown,  is  stripped  of  its  power." 
But  there  was  one  thing  for  which  the  assembly  cannot  be 
commended — its  passion  for  cheap  money.  The  repeated 
issues  of  paper  money  had  here  the  same  blighting  effect 
as  in  New  England. 

The  student  of  the  history  of  liberty  will  find  no  more 
interesting  pages  than  the  story  of  its  struggles  in  the  Caro- 
linas.  The  avowed  object  of  the  proprietors  was  to  found 
a  monarchial  system,  which  even  then  was  beginning  to  break 
down  in  England.  If  the  Anglo-Saxon  at  home  was  steadily 
carrying  out  his  determination  to  control  his  own  political 
fortunes,  what  would  he  do  when  given  the  forest  and  three 
thousand  miles  of  water  as  allies?  Yet  here  was  exhibited 
one  of  those  curious  contradictions  in  which  history  abounds. 
New  England  was  founded  by  men  seeking  religious  free- 
dom for  themselves,  yet  they  manifested  a  spirit  of  intoler- 
ance such  as  was  found  nowhere  else  in  America.  South 
Carolina  was  building  up  a  splendid  aristocracy  on  a  basis 
of  slavery,  yet  nowhere  was  the  spirit  of  liberty  stronger. 
If  this  spirit  often  manifested  itself  in  turbulence,  especially 
in  North  Carolina,  this  was  due  to  oppression  and  not  to 
any  noteworthy  lack  of  popular  morality  or  to  a  spirit  of 
unrest  such  as  may  be  seen  in  South  America  to-day.  Most 
of  the  bad  governors  were  endured  as  one  of  the  ills  of  life ; 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES  143 

those  who  could  not  be  endured  were  imprisoned  or  ban- 
ished. Long  before  the  final  break  with  England  the  Caro- 
linas  were  well  trained  in  the  art  of  revolution.32 


IV 

GEORGIA 

The  last  of  the  southern,  and  of  the  thirteen  colonies, 
to  be  founded  was  Georgia.  It  also  was  a  proprietary  colony, 
and  its  chief  proprietor  was  General  James  Oglethorpe,  who 
had  served  in  the  European  wars  under  the  great  Marl- 
borough and  Prince  Eugene.  At  home,  as  a  member  of 
Parliament,  he  became  a  social  reformer  and  was  partic- 
ularly interested  in  the  debtor  class,  whose  condition  at  that 
time  was  particularly  unfortunate  in  view  of  the  severe  laws 
against  insolvents.  Oglethorpe  made  an  examination  of  the 
debtors'  prisons  and  found  their  condition  so  bad  that  he 
determined  to  offer  the  inmates  a  home  in  the  forests  of 
America,  where  they  might  retrieve  their  fortunes.  He 
entertained  no  thought  of  personal  gain,  no  ambition  of 
a  sordid  character;  his  entire  project  was  open,  disinterested, 
charitable,  loyal,  and  patriotic.33 

The  territory  south  of  the  Savannah  River  was  included 
in  the  Carolina  grant,  but  it  had  never  been  occupied  by 
settlement,  and  with  the  revocation  of  the  charter  it  reverted 
to  the  Crown.  Oglethorpe  now  formed  a  company  and 
prayed  the  crown  for  a  grant  of  this  territory  for  the  purpose 
mentioned  above,  as  also  to  form  a  sort  of  military  barrier 

32  The  most  comprehensive  history  of  South  Carolina  during  the  colonial 
period  is  McCrady's  "  South  Carolina  as  a  Proprietary  and  a  Royal  Province,"  in 
two  volumes ;  see  also  W.  R.  Smith,  "  History  of  South  Carolina  as  a  Royal 
Colony." 

33  Jones,  *■  History  of  Georgia,"  vol.  i.  p.  86. 


144  THE    UNITED    STATES 

between  Carolina  and  the  Spaniards  in  Florida.  The  grant, 
which  was  named  Georgia  in  honor  of  the  king,  included  the 
country  between  the  Savannah  and  Altamaha  rivers,  and  ex- 
tended westward  to  the  "  South  Sea."     The  government  of 


James  E.  Oglethorpe 
Painting  by  Ravinet 

the  colony  was  committed  to  a  company  of  twenty-one  trus- 
tees, by  whom  all  officers  were  to  be  appointed  for  the  first 
four  years,  and  after  that  by  the  Crown.  Slavery  and  traffic 
in  rum  were  prohibited,  no  one  could  own  more  than  five 
hundred  acres  of  land,  and  this  must  descend  in  the  male  line. 
Foreigners  were  to  have  equal  rights  with  Englishmen,  and 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES  145 

all  religions  except  the  Roman  Catholic  were  to  be  toler- 
ated.34 

The  first  settlers,  consisting  of  thirty-five  families, 
sailed  up  the  Savannah  River  in  February,  1733,  under  the 
personal  leadership  of  Oglethorpe,  and  founded  the  city  of 
Savannah,  one  hundred  and  twenty-six  years  after  the  settle- 
ment of  Jamestown.  It  was  soon  discovered  that  the  debtors 
were  not  likely  to  prosper  much  more  in  their  new  home  than 
they  had  done  in  England,  but  a  more  thrifty  class  came 
out  the  following  year — a  ship  load  of  Protestant  refugees 
from  Salzburg,  and  these  were  followed  shortly  thereafter  by 
Moravians  and  Highlanders.  Among  the  early  immigrants 
were  three  men  whose  names  are  forever  linked  with  the 
social  and  religious  history  of  the  time — Charles  and  John 
Wesley  and  George  Whitefield — who  came  as  missionaries 
to  the  Indians.  The  first  mentioned  served  as  secretary  to 
Oglethorpe,  the  two  latter  were  the  most  powerful  preachers 
of  the  time.  The  magnificent  live  oak  under  which  John 
Wesley  sometimes  preached  is  still  pointed  out  to  the 
traveler.  Whitefield  founded  an  orphan  school  and  estab- 
lished a  slave  farm  across  the  river  in  South  Carolina  to  sup- 
port it. 

Oglethorpe  served  the  colony  well  for  twelve  years  as 
governor.  He  established  friendly  relations  with  the  Cher- 
okees,  with  whom  a  thriving  fur  trade  was  carried  on  in 
rivalry  with  the  Spanish  and  French  settlers,  Augusta 
(1734)  being  the  center  of  this  traffic.  When  the  War  of 
the  Spanish  Succession  broke  out  Oglethorpe  led  an  army  of 
invasion  against  St.  Augustine,  but  failed  to  capture  that 
well- fortified  town.35  A  few  years  later  he  exhibited  no 
little  skill  in  repulsing  a  Spanish  invasion  (1742).     In  1748 

34  Jones,  "  The  English  Colonization  of  Georgia,"  in  Winsor,  "  Nar.  and  Crit. 
Hist.,"  vol.  v.  ch.  vi. ;  also  Fiske,  "  Old  Virginia  and  Her  Neighbors,"  vol.  ii. 
pp.  334-335. 

35  Jones,  "  History  of  Georgia,"  vol.  i.  ch.  xxi. 


146 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


General  Oglethorpe  left  Georgia  never  to  return.  Soon 
after  his  arrival  in  England  he  was  promoted  to  the  position 
of  a  full  general  in  the  British  army,  at  the  same  time  retain- 
ing his  seat  in  Parliament.  He  died  in  1785  in  his  ninetieth 
year,  the  only  one  of  the  colonial  founders  who  lived  to  see 
the  colonies  independent. 

Up  to  the  departure  of  Oglethorpe  the  progress  of  the 
colony  was  steady,  if  somewhat  slow,  but  after  that  the  set- 


Old  Spanish  Gates  at  Saint  Augustine,  Florida 

tiers  found  causes  of  complaint.  Chief  of  these  was  the  pro- 
hibition of  slavery.  This  had  been  prohibited,  not  so  much 
on  moral  as  economic  grounds,  it  being  feared  that  it  would 
interfere  with  free  white  labor.  The  settlers  looked  across 
the  river  at  their  more  prosperous  neighbors  where  slavery 
flourished,  and  straightway  desired  it  for  themselves.  After 
years  of  importunity  they  finally  secured  it  in  1749,  when  by 
act  of  Parliament  Georgia  became  a  slave  colony.  The 
colonists  also  wanted  rum,  at  least  they  wanted  to  trade  with 
the  West  Indies,  and  they  declared  that  this  trade  was  driven 
away  by  the  prohibition  on  the  rum  traffic.  This  restriction 
was  removed,  as  also  that  upon  the  size  of  an  estate  which  an 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES  147 

individual  might  own.  The  colonists  again  looked  across  at 
their  neighbors  and  saw  that  they  enjoyed  many  liberties 
which  the  Georgians  were  denied,  and  were  consequently  not 
content  until  they  themselves  were  given  a  government 
similar  to  that  of  South  Carolina.  This  came  in  1752,  when 
the  charter  was  surrendered  and  Georgia  became  a  royal 
province  with  a  legislative  assembly  elected  by  the  freemen 
of  the  colony,  Catholics  excepted,  and  a  governor  appointed 
by  the  king. 

After  these  changes  the  colony  advanced  more  rapidly, 
but  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution  it  was  little  better  than 
a  frontier  settlement.  The  chief  industries  were  the  growing 
of  rice  and  indigo,  the  manufacture  of  lumber,  and  the  peltry 
trade  with  the  Indians.  Experiments  were  made  with  the 
silkworm  with  a  view  to  the  production  of  silk,  but  the  busi- 
ness did  not  prosper  and  was  soon  abandoned.  Life  in  the 
colony  was  of  the  rudest  and  simplest  sort.  Except  Sa- 
vannah, which  was  little  more  than  a  wooden  village,  there 
were  no  towns,  and  the  only  roads  were  Indian  trails.  The 
school  facilities  were  very  poor,  and  the  few  ships  which 
carried  away  their  rice,  indigo,  lumber  and  peltries  brought 
to  the  Georgians  but  little  contact  with  the  stronger  forces  of 
civilization. 


> 


Chapter    IV 
PLANTING  OF  THE  COLONIES— continued 

I 

PLYMOUTH 

THE  men  of  the  age  of  discovery  and  exploration  and 
of  the  early  part  of  the  age  of  colonization  were 
animated  mainly  by  the  desire  of  adventure  and  the 
thirst  for  gold.  It  is  pleasant  now  to  turn  to  the  study  of  a 
people  who  came  into  the  forest  to  seek  not  gold  but  God  and 
the  right  to  worship  Him  in  their  own  way.  If  we  find  that 
they  were  not  inclined  to  allow  others  the  same  privilege,  we 
must  remember  they  lived  in  an  age  of  intolerance.  To  say 
that  they  sought  the  right  to  worship  God  in  their  own  way 
does  not  mean  that  they  sought  religious  freedom.  They 
wished  to  make  their  own  ideas  dominant  in  England;  fail- 
ing in  that  they  sought  the  forest  where  they  could  make 
them  dominant.1 

The  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  is  commonly  given  as  the  date 
of  the  Protestant  Reformation  in  England,  though  little 
more  was  done  then  than  to  substitute  the  supremacy  of  the 
king  for  that  of  the  Pope  in  matters  of  religion.  As  the 
years  passed  by  the  divergence  between  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land and  the  Catholic  Church  increased;  but  a  large  party 
within  the  former,  the  Puritans,  wished  to  purify  it  still 
further  of  Roman  creeds  and  forms.  Some  of  these  went  so 
far  in  their  dissent  as  to  withdraw  from  the  Established 

1  "  The  Religious  Element  in  the  Settlement  of  New  England,"  by  G.  E.  Ellis, 
in  Winsor,  "  Nar.  and  Crit.  Hist.,"  vol.  iii.  ch.  vii. 

148 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES 


149 


Church,  and  became  known  as  Independents  or  Separatists. 
The  Presbyterian  tendency  among  the  latter  contributed  its 
part  in  securing  the  hostility  of  James  I.  His  experience  in 
Scotland  had  convinced  him  that  Presbyterianism  in  the 
church  meant  growing  republicanism  in  the  state.  It  had 
already  limited  his  royal 
power  in  Scotland ;  he  was  de- 
termined it  should  not  do  so  in 
England.  The  church  was  a 
part  of  the  state,  consequently 
he  could,  with  some  show  of 
reason,  regard  an  attack  upon 
the  former  an  attack  upon  the 
latter.  Thus  he  felt  justified 
in  considering  the  dissenters 
inimical  to  his  government; 
and  so  he  determined,  as  he 
announced  at  the  Hampton 
Court  Conference,  to  compel 
them  to  conform  or  "  harry 
them  out  of  the  land."  2 

Some  conformed,  but  others 
were  harried  out  of  the  land. 
A  number  of  the  latter  under 
the  leadership  of  John  Robin-    MoNUME*T  Eri£™  °ver  "  1>L™OUT" 

SOn,  their  pastor,  and  William  The  stone  upon  which  tradition  says 
-r>  i  v  i  the    Pilgrims   landed 

Jirewster,    a    ruling    layman,  h 

found  a  refuge  pk  /Ley den  in  Holland ;  but  they  never 
became  really  contented  thef  e  among  an  alien  people.  They 
longed  for  the  English  ways  and  the  English  laws,  and,  not 
being  able  to  enjoy  these  upon  their  native  heath  or  in  Hol- 
land, determined  to  transplant  them  to  the  forests  of  the  New 

2  Eggleston,  "Beginners  of  a  Nation,"  p.  162;  also  Gardiner,  "History  of 
England,"  vol.  i.  pp.  153-157. 


i 


150  THE    UNITED    STATES 

f 
World.     This  project  was  not  wholly  at  one  with  the  objects 

of  the  London  Company,  but  they  managed  to  obtain  a 
grant  and  by  promising  obedience  to  the  king,  "  if  the  thing 
commanded  be  not  against  God's  Word,"  secured  his  promise 
not  to  interfere  with  them  if  they  lived  peaceably.  To  se- 
cure the  necessary  funds  they  formed  a  sort  of  stock  partner- 
ship with  a  company  of  London  merchants,  who  owned  about 
three-fourths  of  the  shares.     The  communal  system  was  to 


The  **  Mayflower  "  in  the   Harbor  of  Plymouth 
Painting  by  Hansell 

obtain  for  seven  years,  at  the  end  of  which  time  the  corpora- 
tion was  to  disband  and  the  assets  were  to  be  distributed. 

The  Pilgrims,  as  by  this  time  they  had  come  to  be  called, 
sailed  from  Southampton.  Thither  members  of  the  Leyden 
congregation  had  been  brought  by  the  Speedwell,  a  vessel 
of  sixty  tons  bought  for  the  purpose.  The  final  voyage  was 
to  be  made  in  the  Mayflower,  a  larger  vessel  which  they 
had  hired.  The  smaller  vessel  was  to  accompany  them ;  but 
it  proved  unsea worthy,  and  only  the  Mayflower  made  the 
voyage.  It  carried  one  hundred  and  one  Pilgrims  and  en- 
tered Cape  Cod  harbor  (Provincetown)  November  11,  1620 
(old  style).  On  that  day  the  adult  males,  forty-one  in  num- 


~     c     c 


t     c     C        C     C         I 

C       C      I         c      c  < 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES  153 

ber,  drew  up  a  paper  which  posterity  has  named  the  Com- 
pact. It  was  simply  an  agreement  to  form  a  body  politic 
and  a  promise  to  give  "  all  due  submission  and  obedience  " 
to  the  laws  it  might  enact.  They  then  elected  John  Carver 
governor  and  sent  out  an  exploring  party.  Finally  a  land- 
ing was  made  at  a  place  which  they  called  Plymouth,  and  the 
work  of  building  cabins  was  soon  begun.  The  winter  was 
not  so  severe  as  it  often  is,  but  nearly  half  the  company  per- 
ished, among  them  Governor  Carver.  William  Bradford  was 
chosen  as  his  successor,  and  for  many  years  proved  an  able 
leader  of  his  people.  The  loss  of  the  first  winter  was  made 
up  the  following  November  by  the  arrival  of  fifty  more  from 
Leyden,  but  the  colony  had  many  difficulties  to  contend 
with  and  its  growth  was  slow.  Ten  years  after  the  first 
company  landed  it  contained  only  about  three  hundred 
inhabitants.3 

The  Pilgrims  were  very  fortunate  in  their  relations  with 
the  Indians.  Pestilence  had  decimated  their  number,  and 
those  who  remained  felt  grateful  to  the  English  for  the  resti- 
tution of  some  of  their  companions  who  had  been  kidnaped. 
The  story  of  Samoset's  entrance  into  their  settlement  crying 
"  Welcome,  Englishmen!  "  has  been  told  many  times.  He 
and  another  Indian  named  Squanto,  who  became  the  agri- 
cultural instructor  of  the  colony,  were  instrumental  in  bring- 
ing about  a  treaty  with  their  chief,  Massasoit,  which  was 
faithfully  observed  until  his  death. 

But  if  comparatively  free  from  trouble  with  the  In- 
dians, the  Pilgrims  were  not  so  fortunate  in  their  relations 
with  men  of  their  own  color.  Certain  "  lewd  fellows  of  the 
baser  sort,"  who  were  settled  on  Massachusetts  Bay  in  1622 
by  Thomas  Weston  as  a  commercial  venture,  gave  them  no 
little  trouble,  but  the  settlement  was  abandoned  the  next 
year.     In  1625  another  settlement  of  a  similar  kind  was 

3  Channing,  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  i.  ch.  xi. 


154  THE   UNITED    STATES 

made  in  the  same  neighborhood  by  Captain  Wollaston.  The 
settlers,  mostly  indented  servants,  under  the  leadership  of 
Thomas  Morton,  soon  drove  out  Wollaston's  agent  and  re- 
named the  place  Merrymount.  The  famous  Maypole  at 
Merrymount  and  its  sequel  make  one  of  the  most  serio-comic 
episodes  in  New  England  history.  When  they  tossed  off  ten 
pounds'  worth  of  strong  liquor  in  a  morning  and  then  set  up 
a  Maypole  round  which,  says  Bradford,  they  "  frisked  like 
fairies,  or  rather  furies,"  in  the  good  old  English  style,  it 
was  too  much  for  the  Puritans  of  Salem  and  Boston,  and  in 
1630  they  proceeded  under  Endicott  to  break  up  the  settle- 
ment, shipping  Morton  off  to  England.  Some  justification 
for  this  action  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the  merry- 
makers were  debauching  the  Indians,  and  also  teaching  them 
the  use  of  firearms.  In  later  years  the  Pilgrims  had  many 
disputes  with  Massachusetts,  especially  in  regard  to 
boundaries. 

The  fact  that  the  colonists  had  settled  outside  the  terri- 
tory of  the  Virginia  boundary  rendered  their  grant  of  no 
value.  They  were  mere  squatters  upon  the  soil  of  the  old 
Plymouth  Company,  which  was  reorganized  in  1620  as  the 
Council  for  New  England,  and  from  this  company  they  now 
sought  a  grant.  One  of  doubtful  legality  was  secured  in 
1621,  but  their  rights  to  the  soil  were  not  made  secure  until 
a  patent  issued  in  1630. 

The  communal  system  proved  as  great  a  failure  m 
Plymouth  as  it  had  done  in  Virginia.  In  1623  it  was  par- 
tially abandoned,  each  family  being  given  one  acre  of 
ground.  Plenty  followed,  as  it  had  in  Virginia.  In  1627 
further  increase  in  private  ownership  was  allowed.  Each 
household  was  then  given  twenty  acres  «as  a  private  holding. 
Thus  the  communal  system  was  finally  abandoned,  although 
the  system  of  "  commons  "  and  of  pasture  and  wood  rights 
on  the  land  of  the  community  remained  in  places  almost  to 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES  155 

the  present  day.4  About  the  same  time  that  the  communal 
system  was  given  up,  the  colonists  purchased  the  shares  held 
by  the  London  merchants,  and  thus  obtained  complete  con- 
trol of  their  affairs. 

At  first  Plymouth  was  in  government  a  pure  democracy, 
where  all  the  freemen  (those  who  had  signed  the  compact 
or  who  had  been  made  freemen  by  the  governing  body)  met  in 
primary  assembly;  but  as  the  colony  expanded  it  became 
more  and  more  inconvenient  for  all  the  freemen  to  assemble 


^kiiM 


X$w<>*  erf***        cMtO.$*f**>»K 

Handwriting  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers 

in  one  body,  and  the  representative  system  was  introduced. 
The  General  Court,  as  the  body  of  representatives  was 
called,  was  not,  however,  given  law-making  powers,  and  for 
several  years  longer  the  primary  assembly  could  still  meet 
and  undo  the  work  of  the  deputies.  Though  the  Pil- 
grims enjoyed  these  privileges  of  government,  they  never 
felt  secure  in  them  because  they  were  not  a  vested  right. 
They  had  them  simply  through  neglect.  This  feeling  of  in- 
security caused  them  to  try  several  times  to  secure  a  charter 
from  the  king,  but  never  with  success.     Finally  their  sepa- 

*  Channing,  "  Histoj^pf  the  United  States,"  vol.  i.  ch.  xi. 


156  THE     UNITED      STATES 

rate  existence  was  lost  by  the  incorporation  of  the  colony 
with  that  of  Massachusetts  in  1691.5 


II 

MASSACHUSETTS     BAY 

Before  the  coming  of  the  Pilgrims  the  Plymouth  Com- 
pany had  made  several  efforts  at  colonization,  all  of  them 
unsuccessful.  Captain  John  Smith,  in  1614-1615,  explored 
the  coast  of  North  Virginia,  as  this  company's  territory  was 
called,  made  a  map  of  it,  and  changed  the  name  to  New  Eng- 
land. He  also  wrote  pamphlets  setting  forth  the  attractions 
of  New  England  for  colonists.  The  fishing  industry  there, 
he  declared,  was  more  profitable  than  the  Spanish  mines. 
Upon  the  reorganization  of  the  company  in  1620,  as  the 
Council  for  New  England,  a  new  charter  was  secured  and 
also  a  new  grant,  this  time  to  the  lands  lying  between  the 
fortieth  and  the  forty-eighth  degree  north  latitude. 

The  failure  of  the  efforts  at  colonization  does  not  ap- 
pear to  have  been  due  to  any  lack  of  liberality  on  the  part  of 
the  company  with  its  lands.  Indeed,  it  granted  them  away 
in  a  kingly  fashion,  having  little  regard  to-day  for  the  rights 
granted  yesterday.  The  conflicting  claims  thus  created 
were  a  source  of  vexation  for  many  years.  Perhaps  the 
most  important  of  these  grants  was  one  made  in  1628.  It 
comprised  the  strip  of  territory  between  the  Merrimac  and 
the  Charles  rivers,  with  three  miles  on  the  farther  side  of 
each,  and  extended  westward  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  It  was 
made  to  a  company  composed  of  John  Endicott  and  five  as- 
sociates. In  September  of  that  year  Endicott  came  over 
with  a  company  of  sixty  and  joined  the  settlers  who  had 

« Dexter,  "The  Pilgrim  Church  and  Plymouth  Colony,"  in  Winsor,  "Nar. 
and  Crit.  History,"  vol.  iii.  ch.  viii. 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES 


157 


come  out  to  Gloucester  under  the  auspices  of  the  Dorchester 
Company,  and  had  later  removed  to  Naumkeag,  afterwards 
Salem.  Such  was  the  prelude  to  the  great  Puritan  exodus. 
The  following  year,  March,  1629,  a  royal  charter  was  se- 
cured from  Charles  I.  for  a  legal  corporation  styled  the 
Governor  and  Company  ef  the  Massachusetts  Bay  in  New 
England. 

The  membership  of  the  company  was  now  enlarged. 
The  charter  provided  that  it  should  be  directed  by  a  gov- 


Copyrigbt,  1905,  by  John  D.  Morris  &  Company 

An   Indian   Welcome   on   Charles  River 
Painting   by    R.    R.   Wand 

ernor,  deputy  governor,  and  eighteen  assistants  chosen  by  the 
freemen,  that  is,  the  members  of  the  company.  The  patent- 
ees strenuously  resisted  the  efforts  of  the  advisers  of  the 
Crown  to  have  the  government  of  the  company  fixed  in  Eng- 
land. This  omission  really  was  as  important  as  anything 
which  the  charter  contained,  for  it  made  possible  the  removal 
of  the  corporation,  together  with  its  charter,  to  Massachu- 


158  THE     UNITED      STATES 

setts.6  This  was  done  in  1630,  when  the  corporation  and 
colony  were  merged  into  one  self-governing  body.  And 
this  was  the  distinguishing  characteristic  of  the  corporate 
colony,  the  thing  which  contrasts  it  most  sharply  with  the 
provincial  colonies  south  of  the  Hudson. 

The  reasons  for  the  formation  of  the  Company  and  for 
the  transfer  of  its  charter  to  the  New  World  are  to  be 
found  in  the  condition  of  affairs  in  England.  The  Petition 
of  Right,  the  closing  of  Parliament  in  1629,  and  the  im- 
prisonment of  John  Eliot  had  given  the  opponents  of  the 
government  fair  warning  that  they  could  expect  no  half-way 
measures.  Ecclesiastic  affairs  took  on  an  ominous  aspect. 
William  Laud  was  the  practical  ruler  of  the  Established 
Church.  He  set  about  securing  conformity  with  a  thorough- 
ness that  meant  ruin  to  all  non-conformists.  The  Puritan 
element  had  fallen  upon  evil  days  in  both  church  and  state. 
The  wiser  heads  turned  naturally  to  America  as  a  safe  re- 
treat until  the  storm  should  blow  over.  It  was  under  these 
circumstances  that  the  project  of  a  trading  charter  was  con- 
ceived and  carried  out.7 

The  situation  was  becoming  more  and  more  unbearable 
to  the  Puritan  party  in  England,  whether  Separatists  or  not; 
and  in  1630  a  number  of  them  made  the  transfer  of  the  char- 
ter the  condition  of  their  crossing  the  Atlantic.  The  great 
exodus  had  begun.  Eleven  ships  with  more  than  a  thousand 
passengers  made  the  voyage.  With  them  came  their  new 
governor,  John  Winthrop,  and  the  deputy  governor,  Thomas 
Dudley.  Winthrop  decided  that  Salem  was  not  a  suitable 
location,  and  so  removed  to  Boston  Harbor  as  the  most 
satisfactory  site.  Many  of  those  who  came  were  men  of 
education,  some  had  held  high  stations  at  home,  membership 
in  Parliament  or  preferment  in  the  Church  of  England, 

e  Doyle,  "  English  Colonies  in  America,"  vol.  i.  p.  90. 

7  Channing,  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  i.  p.  323. 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES  159 

while  all  were  "  wise  in  their  day  and  generation."  The 
original  patent  was  to  a  trading  company.  Some  disavowed 
any  project  to  establish  a  community  of  Separatists,  nor  for 
a  time  did  they  want  their  independence  at  Salem;  but  at  the 


Governor   Wixthrop 

Supposed   painting   by   Sir    Anthony    Van   Dyck,   State 
House,  Boston 

very  first  they  were  bold  enough  to  reject  the  Anglican 
ritual  and  shipped  off  to  England  John  and  Samuel  Browne 
for  no  other  offense  than  using  it.  Their  churches  were  or- 
ganized on  what  is  known  to-day  as  the  congregational  plan. 
The  government  of  the  colony  was  not  a  real  theocracy, 
as  it  is  sometimes  called ;  neither  was  it  a  pure  democracy ;  it 


160  THE     UNITED      STATES 

was  a  mixture  of  the  two.  Mention  has  been  made  of  the 
fusing  of  the  corporation  and  the  colony.  This  fusion  was 
not  complete  for  many  years,  for  no  one  could  become  a  free 
man  who  could  not  stand  the  religious  test.  But  within  the 
corporation  the  government  was  democratic,  though  Win- 
throp  and  the  assistants  endeavored  to  make  it  oligarchic. 
The  first  rebuke  to  this  spirit  came  in  a  dispute  over  taxation, 
when  the  freemen  resumed  the  right  to  impose  taxes  and 
sent  representatives  or  deputies  to  advise  the  governor  and 
assistants  in  such  matters.  All  these  together  made  up  the 
General  Court,  which  exercised  both  legislative  and  judicial 
powers,  but  the  freemen  still  met  to  elect  the  governor  and 
assistants.  In  1644  a  trivial  lawsuit  over  a  lost  pig  led  to  the 
establishment  of  a  bicameral  legislature.  The  Bible  and  the 
common  law  of  England  were  the  law  of  the  land  until  1641, 
when  the  "  Body  of  Liberties  "  was  adopted.  The  main  ob- 
ject of  this  instrument  was  to  limit  the  discretionary  power 
of  the  executive. 

When  religious  disputes  were  the  chief  concern  of  men  it 
would  not  have  been  reasonable  to  expect  a  colony  with  a  dis- 
tinctly religious  aim  to  be  free  from  troubles  of  that  nature. 
The  expulsion  of  the  Episcopalian  Browne  has  already 
been  mentioned,  and  scarcely  was  the  colony  freed  from  the 
danger  of  prelacy  when  another  disturbing  factor  arose  in 
the  person  of  Roger  Williams,  who  landed  at  Boston  in  1631, 
went  to  Plymouth,  and  came  to  Salem  in  1633.  The  free- 
men had  provided  for  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  colony,  but 
Williams  refused  to  take  this  and  denied  the  right  of  the 
government  to  require  it.  He  declared  for  the  separation 
of  church  and  state  and  for  voluntary  attendance  at  services 
and  voluntary  contributions  for  the  support  of  the  church. 
More  than  this,  he  pronounced  the  king's  patent  void  and  de- 
clared that  valid  patents  could  be  secured  only  from  the  In- 
dians, who  were  the  rightful  owners  of  the  soil.     Much  of 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES 


161 


this  sounds  very  modern,  and  his  theories  in  regard  to  the 
church  have  been  adopted  in  every  American  commonwealth. 
But  Williams  was  not  only  far  in  advance  of  the  time,  but 
was  also  an  impractical  extremist.  His  preaching  was  noth- 
ing short  of  an  attack  upon  the  state,  and  there  was  nothing 
to  do  but  deal  with  him  as  a  public  enemy.  Salem  sided  with 
her  pastor  for  a  while,  but  was  brought  to  terms  by  being  dis- 


' Copyright,  1905,  by  John  D.  Morris  &  Company 

Roger  Williams  Finds  an  Asylum  Among  the  Narragansett  Indians, 

Rhode   Island 

franchised.  Williams  would  neither  amend  his  preaching 
nor  keep  silence,  and  was  finally  banished  (1635).  On  ac- 
count of  his  illness  the  decree  was  not  carried  out  for  some 
months;  but  as  Williams  could  not  keep  still  it  was  finally 
decided  to  ship  him  back  to  England.  To  avoid  this  fate  he 
fled  from  the  colony  in  the  dead  of  winter  (1636)  .8 

Another  religious  disturber  was  Mrs.  Anne  Hutchinson, 
who  landed  at  Boston  in  1634.     She  appears  to  have  had  a 

8  Bancroft,  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  i.  p.  378. 


\m 


THE     UNITED      STATES 


fondness  for  notoriety  and  did  not  like  to  be  excluded  from 
the  meeting  where  the  men  came  together  to  discuss  theo- 
logical and  political  questions.  As  a  counter  movement  she 
held  meetings  for  the  women,  where  similar  questions  were 
discussed.  Soon  it  was  discovered  that  her  teachings  were 
heretical,  and  that  she  was  gaining  a  following  among  men 
of  consequence.  The  heresy,  consisted  in  her  declaration 
that  she  and  her  followers  were  under  a  "  covenant  of  grace," 
while  the  others  were  under  a  "  covenant  of  works."    Among 

her  followers  were  her  brother, 
the  Rev.  John  Wheelright, 
the  Rev.  John  Cotton,  and 
the  young  governor,  Henry 
Vane.  The  Boston  church, 
indeed  all  Massachusetts  so- 
ciety, was  shaken  to  its  very 
foundations  by  the  agitation 
of  this  question  of  "  grace  " 
and  "  works."  In  September, 
1637,  a  synod  of  divines  drew 
up  and  condemned  ninety-one 
erroneous  opinions  said  to  be 
held  by  members  of  the  com- 
munity. The  heretics  were 
asked  to  subscribe  to  this  con- 
Governor  Henry  Vane  demnation,    but    refused. 

After   the   statue   by   MacMonnies   in     Wheelright  Was  banished, 
the  Public  Library,  Boston  ° 

while  others  were  fined 
or  disfranchised.  Mrs.  Hutchinson  was  then  brought  to 
trial,  if  such  a  travesty  on  justice  may  be  dignified  by  the 
name  of  trial.  The  witnesses  against  her  were  not  sworn; 
she  was  not  allowed  an  attorney;  and  she  and  her  witnesses 
were  browbeaten  with  shameless  disregard  of  justice.  But 
in  some  inexplicable  way,  dim  now,  but  clear  and  real  then, 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES 


163 


her  teachings  were  believed  to  endanger  the  theocratic  state, 
and  she  was  found  guilty.  Banishment  was  the  penalty 
(1637) ,  and  she  fled  to  Rhode  Island,  and  later  went  to  New 
York,  where  she  was  murdered  by  the  Indians  four  years  af- 


Statue  of  John  Harvard 

'Founder  of  Harvard  College,  in  the  college  grounds, 

Cambridge,  Mass. 

terwards.     This  the  divines  considered  God's  vindication  of 
their  judgment. 

Comparative  religious  quiet  now  appears  to  have 
reigned  for  a  number  of  years,  only  to  be  broken  by  what  is 
commonly  regarded  as  the  most  inoffensive  of  all  sects,  the 


164  THE     UNITED      STATES 

Quakers.  \  'At  that  time,  however,  a  few  of  them  practiced 
certain  fanatical  customs  which  would  not  be  tolerated  in  any 
civilized  community  to-day,  such  as  walking  through  the 
streets  and  entering  the  churches  naked.  Persecution  in 
England  drove  some  of  them  to  Massachusetts  in  1656. 
When  they  refused  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance,  they  were 
suspected  of  being  Jesuits  in  disguise.  They  were  banished, 
and  the  penalty  of  death  was  imposed  upon  any  who  re- 
turned. To  the  surprise  of  the  authorities  some  returned  and 
demanded  the  repeal  of  the  law.  Four  were  hanged,  but  the 
law  had  to  be  repealed  in  response  to  public  opinion.  In  the 
seventeenth  century  belief  in  witchcraft  was  common 
throughout  the  world.  The  "  Body  of  Liberties  "  made  it  a 
capital  offense  for  one  to  be  a  witch.  In  the  last  decade  of 
the  century  this  law  was  invoked  against  many  suspected 
persons,  and  nineteen  actually  paid  the  penalty  on  the  gal- 
lows. Because  this  delusion  as  to  witches  centered  around 
Salem,  this  is  popularly  known  as  the  Salem  Witchcraft. 

In  the  midst  of  the  religious  persecution  one  beam  of 
light  breaks  out  which  is  still  growing  brighter  with  every 
passing  day.  The  year  following  the  banishment  of  Roger 
Williams,  and  the  year  preceding  that  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson, 
witnessed  the  birth  of  Harvard  College.  This  was  founded 
by  the  Commonwealth  at  Newtowne.  The  latter  name  was 
soon  changed  to  Cambridge  in  honor  of  the  Alma  Mater  of 
most  of  the  college  men  of  the  community.  Two  years  later 
John  Harvard,  a  young  clergyman,  died,  leaving  his  library 
and  an  estate  valued  at  £800  to  the  college.  The  new  in- 
stitution was  named  Harvard  in  grateful  recognition  of  its 
first  great  benefactor. 


PLANTING    OF     COLONIES  165 

III 

CONNECTICUT  AND  RHODE  ISLAND* 

The  settlement  of  Connecticut,  in  being  an  offshoot  of 
other  colonies,  marks  a  new  stage  in  colonial  development. 
The  Dutch  at  New  York  had  looked  upon  the  fertile  Con- 
necticut Valley  and  saw  that  it  was  good,  especially  for  trad- 
ing. With  unusual  magnanimity  they  reported  this  to  the 
settlers  at  Plymouth,  who  immediately  made  a  treaty  with 
the  Mohicans  and  established  a  trading  post  at  Windsor 
(1633)  to  check  the  Dutch,  who  had  settled  at  Hartford. 
Certain  men  of  Massachusetts,  who  also  desired  this  goodly 
country,  came  into  the  valley  and,  with  a  shameless  disregard 
of  the  rights  of  the  Plymouth  squatters,  took  possesson  of 
the  "  Lord's  waste  "  on  which  they  had  already  settled.  This 
migration  was  at  first  opposed  by  Massachusetts,  but  in  1635 
the  legislature  gave  its  formal  sanction,  furnished  the  set- 
tlers with  a  commission,  with  ammunition  and  cannon,  and 
provided  that  they  should  be  subject  to  its  jurisdiction. 

This  new  exodus  was  led  by  the  Rev.  Thomas  Hooker. 
This  divine  appears  to  have  been  the  rival  of  the  Rev.  John 
Cotton,  but  was  of  a  less  aggressive  disposition  and  wished  to 
seek  a  new  field,  where  his  light  would  be  more  conspicuous. 
He  was  also  opposed  to  the  close  connection  between  church 
and  state  which  obtained  in  Massachusetts.  He  was  demo- 
cratic in  his  ideas  and  wished  a  wider  franchise  than  one 
based  on  church  membership.  A  third  consideration  prob- 
ably had  more  weight  with  the  ordinary  emigrants.  The  set- 
tlers were  in  search  of  more  fertile  soil,  and  public  policy  de- 
manded the  checking  of  the  Dutch.  Before  the  end  of  1636 
about  eight  hundred  people  had  settled  in  the  valley  in  the 
three  towns  of  Hartford,  Windsor,  and  Wethersfield.  The 
establishment  of  Saybrook  (1635) ,  at  the  mouth  of  the  river, 


166  THE     UNITED      STATES 

by  John  Winthrop,  Jr.,  son  of  the  governor  of  Massachu- 
setts, served  to  protect  them  from  the  Dutch.  This  was 
done  under  the  authority  of  Lord  Brooke  and  Lord  Saye  and 
Sele,  to  whom,  with  ten  others,  that  part  of  the  country  had 
been  granted  by  the  Council  for  New  England.9 

Much  has  been  made  of  the  Fundamental  Orders  under 
which  the  colonists  governed  themselves.  Fiske  calls  it  "  the 
first  written  constitution  known  to  history  that  created  a 
government " ;  but  it  was  too  closely  modeled  on  that  of 
Massachusetts  to  deserve  any  extended  analysis.  One  im- 
portant difference  was  that  there  was  no  religious  test  for 
citizenship.  Neither  was  there  any  mention  of  allegiance  to 
the  British  King,  though  there  probably  was  no  intention  to 
deny  it. 

New  Haven  was  founded  as  a  separate  colony  in  1638, 
by  Theophilus  Eaton  and  the  Rev.  John  Davenport.10  This 
colony  is  noteworthy  for  the  thorough-going  way  in  which  it 
carried  out  the  ideas  on  which  the  others  had  been  founded, 
but  from  which  they  deviated  as  political  expediency  dictated. 
For  a  year  their  only  constitution  was  a  simple  agreement  to 
obey  the  Scriptures.  In  June,  1639,  they  adopted  a  con- 
stitution closely  modeled  upon  the  Bible,  and  agreed  among 
themselves  that  "  the.  word  of  God  shall  be  the  only  rule  at- 
tended unto  in  ordering  the  affairs  of  government."  It 
was  another  of  those  governments  founded  on  the  closest 
union  between  church  and  state.  Other  towns  sprang  up 
about  New  Haven,  and  maintained  an  independent  existence 
until  1643,  when  they  united  with  it  under  the  title  of  the 
New  Haven  Colony.  They  were  troubled  by  the  Dutch,  but 
managed  to  maintain  their  position  against  all  encroach- 
ments. 

The  very  life  of  Connecticut  was  threatened  in  1636- 

»  Channing,  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  i.  pp.  398-401. 
10  Eggleston,  "  Beginners  of  a  Nation,"  p.  343. 


» »;  >  \  > 


*/■  c    c       c 


1   C  CI  I       t  <. 

1    c       <_  c    c        ccc  c 

ccci'cc  ctccc 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES      .r      169 

1637  by  the  Pequot  Indians.  The  war  concerned  all  the  col- 
onies, but  the  brunt  of  it  was  borne  by  Connecticut.  While 
Massachusetts  and  Plymouth  were  disputing  about  what 
each  should  do,  John  Mason,  an  intrepid  soldier  who  had 
served  in  the  Netherlands,  organized  a  company  and 
marched  against  the  enemy.  Reinforcements  arrived  from 
outside  in  time  to  take  part  in  the  annihilation  of  the 
power  of  the  Pequots  by  the  destruction  of  their  last 
stronghold. 

Until  after  the  restoration  of  the  Stuarts  the  people  of 
Connecticut,  excepting  the  military  station  at  Saybrook, 
were  mere  squatters,  with  no  title  to  the  land  except  such  as 
had  been  secured  in  some  cases  from  the  Indians.  When  the 
news  of  the  Restoration  was  received,  Connecticut  proclaimed 
the  new  king  and  sent  over  the  courtly  Winthrop  as  its  agent. 
With  the  help  of  Lord  Saye  and  Sele,  now  a  member  of  the 
king's  council,  he  secured  a  very  liberal  charter  (1662) .  The 
colonists  were  made  a  self-governing  corporation  and  were 
practically  independent  in  everything  but  name.  Not  even 
their  laws  had  to  be  sent  over  for  the  inspection  of  the  king.11 
New  Haven,  to  her  intense  disgust,  found  that  she  was  in- 
cluded in  this  charter.  For  a  time  she  resisted  incorporation, 
but  finally  yielded  when  threatened  with  absorption  by  New 
York.  With  the  exception  of  the  reign  of  Andros,  Con- 
necticut retained  her  full  independence.  One  other  attempt, 
however,  was  made  to  bring  her  into  partial  subjection  to 
New  York.  During  the  first  of  the  Inter-Colonial  Wars, 
Fletcher  was  made  commander  of  the  Connecticut  and  New 
Jersey  militia.  William  III.  did  this  to  secure  some  sort  of 
military  unity  in  the  war  against  the  French.  Fletcher 
visited  Hartford  in  October,  1693,  and  attempted  to  carry 
out  his  commission.  The  Assembly  of  Connecticut  refused 
to  recognize  his  authority     It  is  very  doubtful  whether  his 

ii  Bancroft,  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  ii.  pp.  54-55. 


170  THE     UNITED      STATES 

little  episode  with  Captain  Wadsworth,  in  which  his  attempt 
to  read  his  commission  was  drowned  by  the  beating  of  drums, 
and  the  doughty  captain  threatened  "  to  make  the  sun  shine 
through  "  him,  ever  occurred.  But  it  is  evident  from  his  own 
statement  that  he  met  with  a  decided  rebuff.12 

The  history  of  the  early  years  of  Rhode  Island  reads 
like  the  story  of  a  mild  form  of  anarchy.13  Like  Connecti- 
cut, this  colony  was  an  offshoot  of  Massachusetts,  but  one 
of  which  the  parent  colony  was  not  very  proud.  When 
Roger  Williams  fled  from  her  borders,  he  turned  southward 
to  Narragansett  Bay,  where  he  and  five  associates  founded 
the  town  of  Providence  on  a  tract  of  land  secured  from  Mas- 
sasoit.  In  1637  some  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson's  followers, 
among  them  William  Coddington  and  John  Clarke,  found 
life  in  Massachusetts  uncomfortable  and  sought  a  cooler 
climate  in  Maine,  but  one  winter  there  satisfied  them.  Turn- 
ing south  they  settled  on  Aquidneck  (Rhode  Island),  where 
Mrs.  Hutchinson  soon  joined  them.14  Coddington  pres- 
ently fell  out  with  Mrs.  Hutchinson  and  gracefully  with- 
drew from  Portsmouth  and  founded  Newport  (1639),  but 
the  towns  were  reunited  the  following  year.  The  machinery 
of  government  was  set  in  motion  by  thirteen  in  Providence 
and  by  about  twenty  on  Aquidneck.  Through  the  exertions 
of  Williams  the  settlements,  together  with  the  new  town  of 
Warwick,  were  united  in  1643  as  the  Providence  Plantations, 
and  a  charter  was  secured  from  the  Parliamentary  Commit- 
tee on  the  Colonies.  In  1663  John  Clarke,  the  agent  for 
Rhode  Island,  secured  another  charter  from  Charles  II. 
This  charter  was  so  liberal  that  it  was  used  as  the  constitu- 
tion of  government  until  1842.  A  method  of  legislation, 
seldom  found  now  outside  of  Switzerland,  was  introduced 

12  Fiske,  "  Dutch  and  Quaker  Colonies,"  vol.  ii.  pp.  218-219. 
is  See    Richman,    "  Rhode    Island,    Its    Making    and    Its    Meaning,"    vol.    ii. 
chs.  i.-iii. 

I*  Eggleston,  "  Beginners  of  a  Nation,"  p.  340. 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES 


171 


here  in  1647,  the  referendum,  by  which  any  one  town  could 
defeat  an  objectionable  measure. 

From  the  first  Rhode  Island  was  a  country  of  "  soul 
liberty."  The  right  of  freedom  in  doctrinal  belief  was  as- 
sured by  statutes  in  1641,  and  was  included  in  the  charter  of 
1663,  though  subsequently  Roman  Catholics  were  denied  the 
right  of  franchise.     As  a  consequence  the  colony  became  a 


Copyright,  1905,  by  John  D7  Morris  &  Company 

Old   Norse    Tower,   Newport,   R.    I. 
Supposed  to  have  been  built  by  Norsemen 

sort  of  haven  of  refuge  for  all  sorts  of  heretics  who  had 
found  other  places,  especially  Massachusetts,  uncomfort- 
able. The  result  of  the  mixture  of  such  heterogeneous  ele- 
ments was  that  Rhode  Island  itself  became  uncomfortable 
to  all  except  those  who  delighted  in  turmoil  and  turbulence. 
But  democracy  was  in  training,  and  there  were  no  very 
serious  results. 


172  THE     UNITED      STATES 

IV 

NEW  HAMPSHIRE  AND  MAINE 

Two  of  the  New  England  colonies,  New  Hampshire 
and  Maine,  were  not  unlike  the  southern  colonies  in  origin. 
Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges,  one  of  the  chief  moving  spirits  in 
the  Council  for  New  England,  succeeded  in  1622,  with  John 
Mason  (not  the  conqueror  of  the  Pequots),  in  obtaining  a 
patent  to  the  country  between  the  Merrimac  and  the  Kenne- 
bec rivers.  Later  (1629)  this  territory  was  divided  be- 
tween them,  Mason  taking  that  lying  between  the  Merrimac 
and  Piscataqua,  Gorges  that  between  the  Piscataqua  and 
Kennebec.15 

The  first  settlement  in  New  Hampshire  appears  to  have 
been  made  by  David  Thompson  and  a  few  associates  near 
the  mouth  of  the  Piscataqua  in  1623.  Dover  was  founded 
by  some  Puritan  fish-mongers  from  London,  Exeter  and 
Hampton  by  Antinomians  (adherents  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson) 
from  Massachusetts.  By  this  time  Mason  ^egan  to  take 
an  interest  in  his  territory,  though  he  does  not  appear  ever 
to  have  secured  a  patent  as  proprietary  governor.  In  1629 
he  and  Gorges  formed  the  Laconia  Company,  which  sent 
out  a  few  colonists  the  next  year  and  founded  Portsmouth. 
They  were  Anglicans,  and  it  may  be  readily  inferred  that 
these  settlements  of  Puritans,  Antinomians  and  Anglicans 
had  little  in  common.  They  quarreled  among  themselves 
and  invited  the  interference  of  Massachusetts,  who  was 
watching  for  an  opportunity  to  make  good  her  claims  to 
jurisdiction  over  them.  This  she  did  in  1641,  in  a  com- 
paratively liberal  way,  giving  the  towns  the  right  of  repre- 
sentation.    In  1691  New  Hampshire  was  separated  from 

is  Bancroft,  "History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  ii.  p.  114;  Thwaites,  "The 
Colonies,"  p.  150. 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES  173 

Massachusetts  and  became  a  royal  province.  For  a  hundred 
years  the  progress  of  the  colony  was  retarded  by  the  inse- 
curity of  land  titles.  This  was  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
Mason  heirs  constantly  asserted  their  claims  to  the  land. 
Finally  this  source  of  vexation  was  removed  by  the  purchase 
of  the  Mason  claims.  Vermont  was  an  offshoot  of  this 
colony.  For  many  years  it  was  a  bone  of  contention  between 
New  Hampshire  and  New  York,  but  finally  the  king  decided 
in  favor  of  the  latter.  The  attempt,  however,  to  disregard 
the  land  titles  based  on  the  New  Hampshire  grants  led  to  the 
revolt  of  the  Green  Mountain  boys  and  the  formation  of  a 
new  commonwealth. 

Gorges  was  not  content  with  a  simple  patent  to  the  land, 
but  secured  a  charter  from  the  king  in  1639,  which  made 
him  a  palatine.  He  drafted  a  very  cumbersome  form  of 
government,  which  reminds  one  of  Locke's  Constitution,  but 
was  never  able  to  put  it  in  operation,  because  there  were 
hardly  more  than  enough  settlers  in  Maine  to  hold  the  numer- 
ous offices.  Gorges  gave  much  time,  thought,  and  money 
to  his  colony,  but  never  lived  to  see  any  great  returns.  After 
his  death  the  colonists  wrote  to  his  heirs  repeatedly,  but  could 
get  no  reply.  Massachusetts  then  discovered  that  the  coun- 
try belonged  to  her,  and  proceeded  to  absorb  it  (1652-1656) . 
In  1677  the  heirs  of  Gorges  made  a  virtue  of  necessity,  and 
sold  out  their  claims  to  Massachusetts. 


V 

THE  NEW  ENGLAND  CONFEDERATION 

The  formation  of  the  New  England  Confederation  in 
1643  gives  a  sort  of  unity  to  the  history  of  this  region  for  a 
time.  Connecticut  had  made  overtures  for  such  a  union  as 
early  as  1637.     Only  four  of  the  colonies  were  included, 


174  THE    UNITED    STATES 

Connecticut,  New  Haven,  Plymouth  and  Massachusetts,  and 
they  agreed  upon  twelve  articles  for  a  "  firm  and  perpetual 
league  of  friendship  and  amity  for  offense,  mutual  advice 
and  succor."  Rhode  Island  was  not  deemed  worthy  to  be  a 
member  and  therefore  was  not  invited  to  join.  Eight 
federal  commissioners,  two  from  each  colony,  regardless  of 
population,  were  empowered  to  "  determine  all  affairs  of 
war  or  peace,  leagues,  aids,  charges  and  numbers  of  men 
for  war,  division  of  spoils  and  whatsoever  was  gotten  by  con- 
quest." The  spoils  as  well  as  the  expenses  of  war  were  to  be 
divided  according  to  the  military  population.  One  article 
provided  for  the  rendition  of  fugitives  from  justice  and  run- 
away slaves.  Within  its  own  limits  each  colony  was  to  pre- 
serve its  own  "  peculiar  jurisdiction  and  government  "  free 
from  any  intermeddling  by  the  Confederation.  The  com- 
missioners were  to  meet  in  the  various  colonies  in  rotation. 
A  three- fourths  vote  (the  vote  being  by  individuals,  not  by 
colonies)  was  necessary  for  any  measure;  failing  in  this  it 
was  to  be  referred  to  the  legislature  of  the  different  members 
of  the  Confederation. 

Although  the  population  of  Massachusetts  was  greater 
than  that  of  all  the  other  members  combined,  she  stood  on  an 
equality  with  each  of  them  in  the  federal  council.  Her  only 
remedy  lay  in  assuming  a  domineering  attitude,  or  in  actu- 
ally violating  the  terms  of  the  compact,  which  she  sometimes 
did.  However,  the  Confederation  served  a  useful  purpose, 
especially  in  dealing  with  the  Indians.  It  declined  after  the 
Restoration  and  was  finally  dissolved  in  1684.16 

As  in  the  south,  so  in  New  England,  the  colonists  de- 
sired to  convert  the  heathen  Indian.  The  most  famous  of  all 
the  workers  among  the  red  men  was  the  Rev.  John  Eliot,  who 
was  known  as  the  Apostle  to  the  Indians.  He  labored  among 
them  many  years  and  translated  the  Bible  into  the  Algonquin 

16  Frothingham,  "  Rise  of  the  Republic,"  ch.  ii. 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES 


175 


language.  Those  who  accepted  his  teachings  were  known 
as  "  praying  Indians,"  and  a  goodly  number  were  gathered 
into  the  fold.  But  the  great  majority  were  true  to  the  faith 
of  their  fathers,  and  the  chief  of  the  Pokanokets  even  tried 
to  insert  in  a  treaty  a  stipulation  that  no  effort  should  be 
made  to  convert  any  of  his  warriors.  With  jealous  eye  the 
Indian  saw  his  hunting  grounds  vanishing  with  each  ad- 
vance of  the  English,  and  the 
number  of  warriors  diminished 
by  the  increase  of  "  praying 
Indians."  He  could  draw  but 
little  distinction  between  the 
cheating  trader  and  the  pious 
missionary,  and  he  hated  all. 
He  knew  but  little  of  the  sa- 
cred nature  of  treaties,  such  as 
the  English  made  with  him, 
and  frequently  broke  them. 
The  summons  to  the  settle- 
ment to  answer  for  this,  as  also 
to  be  arraigned  before  a  jury 
of  white  men  for  some  offense, 
humiliated  his  pride  and  ex- 
cited his  wrath.  At  last  the 
smoldering  fires  of  hostility  were  fanned  into  a  flame  by 
Philip,  son  of  and  successor  to  Massasoit.  There  is  no  evi- 
dence of  a  widespread  conspiracy,  but  Philip  was  under 
suspicion  in  1674,  and  was  summoned  to  an  examination. 
The  informer  against  him  was  murdered,  the  murderers 
were  tried  by  jury  and  hanged,  and  the  war  at  once 
broke  out. 

Philip  succeeded  in  winning  over  the  powerful  Narra- 
gansetts,  and  soon  all  New  England  was  ablaze.  Several 
towns,  among  them  Brookfield,  Deerfield  and  Northfield, 


John  Eliot 

From   portrait   in    possession    of   the 
family  of  the  late  William  Whiting 


176  THE     UNITED      STATES 

were  burned.  An  attack  on  Hadley,  according  to  tradition, 
was  repelled  under  the  leadership  of  an  aged  man  commonly 
believed  to  have  been  GofFe,  one  of  the  regicides  who  had 
found  a  refuge  in  America.  During  the  winter  of  1675- 
1676  the  war  was  prosecuted  with  vigor  by  the  whites.  The 
Indians  were  unused  to  continuous  fighting  and  were  gradu- 
ally exhausted.  Philip's  allies  sued  for  grace  and  Philip 
himself  became  a  fugitive,  only  to  be  overtaken  by  Captain 
Church  in  a  swamp,  where  he  was  slain  by  one  of  his  own 
race.  The  loss  in  blood  and  treasure  was  very  great.  More 
than  600  men  fell  in  the  struggle  and  almost  as  many  houses, 
including  thirteen  towns,  went  up  in  smoke.  Bancroft  esti- 
mates the  disbursements  and  losses  at  half  a  million  dollars.17 
The  Restoration  in  England  marked  a  turn  in  the  tide  of 
affairs  in  the  Confederation.  We  have  already  seen  that 
one  of  the  members,  New  Haven,  was  absorbed  by  Connecti- 
cut in  her  new  charter.  Rhode  Island,  too*  despised  and  re- 
jected of  the  Confederation  because  of  her  heterodoxy,  re- 
ceived the  royal  favor,  much  to  the  disgust  of  Massachusetts, 
which  was  ordered  to  accord  better  treatment  to  the  Quakers, 
to  tolerate  the  Anglicans,  and  to  administer  justice  in  the 
name  of  the  king.  Still  another  factor  contributed  to  the 
decline  of  the  Confederation.  The  early  settlers  were 
thoroughly  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  independence.  They 
probably  never  aimed  at  complete  separation  from  the 
mother  country,  but  they  wished  to  have  as  little  to  do  with 
her  as  possible.  But  by  this  time  a  new  generation  had  grown 
up,  one  which  knew  not  the  tyrannies  from  which  their 
fathers  had  fled.  They  were  becoming  tired  of  the  austere 
rule  of  the  Puritan  divines.  Men  of  wealth  who  engaged 
in  commerce  were  unwilling  to  offend  across  the  sea  for  fear 
of  damaging  trade.  They  also  knew  something  of  life  in 
Old  England  and  strove  to  imitate  it. 

17  Bancroft,  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  ii.  p.  92. 


1660. 


1660. 
ENGLISH  CHARTERS  &  GRANTS 

Subdividing  Charters  of  1609  &  1620. 

|  |    COUNCIL  OF  PLYMOUTH,  OF  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Grants  by  the  Council : 

fl621.  To  Sir   W.  Alexander,  Lordship  and  Baron;/  of 

New  Scotland  (Nova  Scotia.) 
)  1635.  To  Sir  W.  Alexander,  Pemaquid  and  Island*  of 
(.  Long,  Nantucket  and  Martha'*  Vineyard. 


Kennebec  to   Piaataqua 


1621.  To  Plymouth  Colony. 

1628.  To  Plymouth  Colony. 

(Maine.) 

^]   1629.  To  J.  Mason,  New  Hampshire. 

Royal  Charters : 

B1629.  To  Matsachusett*  Bay  Colony. 
1639.  To  Sir  F.  Gorge*.     Portion  of  Plymouth  Colon* 
(Maine.) 
f  Providence  Plantation. 
I  Rhode  Uland  Colony. 
Virginia  : 

1629.  To  Sir  R.  Heath,  Carolana. 
1632.  To  Lord  Baltimore,  Maryland. 
1649.  To  Lord  Culpepper  (of  the  Soil,  not  Jurxtdietion.) 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES 


177 


All  these  facts  made  it  possible  for  Edward  Randolph, 
who  came  over  in  1676,  to  look  after  the  enforcement  of  the 
Navigation  Acts,  to  build  up  a  small  following;  but  he  was 
bitterly  hated  by  the  majority  for  his  tyranny  and  for  his 
malicious  reports  about  the  colony. 

Soon  after  the  Restoration  New  England  affairs  were 
entrusted  to  a  committee  of  twelve  members  of  the  privy 
council.  In  1664  they  sent  over 
a  commission,  but  they  were  un- 
able to  get  much  satisfaction  out 
of  Massachusetts  in  their  efforts 
to  have  her  mend  her  ways. 
They  detached  Maine  from  her 
the  following  year,  but  three 
years  later  she  quietly  took  it 
back,  and  in  1677  bought  up  the 
Gorges  claim  which  Charles 
himself  was  intending  to  buy. 
The  Puritans  were  as  skillful 
as  the  Spanish  in  evasion  and 
delay,  but  finally  the  blow  fell. 
The  insult  in  the  purchase  of 
Maine,  the  constant  evasion  of 
the  Navigation  Acts,  the  coining  of  money,  and  the  dis- 
franchisement of  Anglicans  were  deemed  a  sufficient  pretext 
for  the  destruction  of  her  liberties,  and  her  charter  was 
annulled  in  1684,  by  a  writ  of  quo  warranto.  The  same 
year  witnessed  the  end  of  the  Confederation. 

In  1686  Sir  Edmund  Andros  came  to  Boston  with  a 
commission  as  governor  of  New  England,  and  two  years 
later  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  where  he  had  already  made 
a  reputation,  were  added  to  his  jurisdiction.  Some  modern 
historians  are  inclined  to  think  that  he  was  hardly  as  black  as 
he  had  been  painted,  and  the  colors  used  by  his  contempo- 


James   II. 
After  painting  by  J.  Riley 


178  THE    UNITED    STATES 

rary  colonists  were  certainly  very  dark.  He  was  not  carry- 
ing out  a  policy  of  arbitrary  government  for  the  sake  of  be- 
ing despotic.  Conditions  in  the  colonies  had  occupied  the 
serious  attention  of  the  home  government.  The  evident 
solution  of  the  problem  of  administration  was  to  consolidate 
and  unify  the  various  colonial  governments.  James  II. 
determined  to  do  this.  In  order  to  accomplish  such  a  result 
it  was  necessary  to  confiscate  existing  charters  and  abolish 
the  independent  governments  in  the  various  colonies.  In 
executing  such  a  policy  Andros  certainly  could  not  have  won 
the  love  and  gratitude  of  the  colonists  and  at  the  same  time 
been  faithful  to  his  instructions.  He  chose  the  latter  and 
governed  despotically.  He  suspended  the  writ  of  habeas 
corpus  and  instituted  a  rigorous  censorship  of  the  press. 
He  annulled  land  grants  and  divided  up  the  common  lands 
among  his  friends.  He  abolished  the  General  Court  and 
himself  levied  the  taxes.  And  finally  he  set  up  the  Anglican 
worship,  sometimes  seizing  Congregational  churches  for  that 
purpose.  He  demanded  the  charter  of  Rhode  Island.  This 
was  refused,  but  the  colony  yielded  to  his  sway.  At  Hart- 
ford he  demanded  the  Charter  of  Connecticut  in  person. 
The  story  goes  that  the  assembly  was  prolonged  far  into  the 
night,  when  the  lights  were  suddenly  put  out  and  the  precious 
charter  was  spirited  away  and  concealed  in  an  oak.  The 
Charter  Oak,  as  the  tree  was  ever  afterwards  known,  was 
carefully  preserved  for  a  time,  but  was  blown  down  in 
August,  1856.18 

At  last  relief  came  in  news  from  over  the  sea.  As  soon 
as  it  was  known  that  William  of  Orange  had  landed  in  Eng- 
land, and  before  the  result  could  be  ascertained,  the  colonists 
imprisoned  Andros  and  quietly  shipped  him  back  home. 
Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island  then  brought  their  old  char- 
ters out  of  hiding  and  went  on  as  before.     Massachusetts 

18  Andrews,  "  Self  Government  in  America,"  chs.  xvi.-xvii. 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES 


179 


made  strenuous  efforts  to  get  back  her  old  rights,  but  there 
was  no  way  of  avoiding  the  fact  that  her  charter  had  been 
legally  declared  void.     Increase  Mather  was  sent  to  Eng- 
land to  secure  a  restoration  of  the  old  charter,  but  failed. 
William  III.  would  have  preferred  to  see  all  of  New  Eng- 
land united  under  one  strong  government,  as  he  foresaw 
the  coming  struggle  with  the  French.     He  was  compelled, 
however,  to  yield  to  the  dissatisfaction  created  by  the  An- 
dros  regime.    It  was  intimated  that  a  proposition  for  a  new 
charter  would  be   favorably  received.     This   was   at  once 
drawn  up,  probably  under  the  personal  direction  of  Mather, 
and  received  the  royal  assent 
in  1691.    Even  in  this  the  uni- 
fying  policy    of   the    British 
Government  was  manifest,  for 
the  bounds  of  Massachusetts19 
were  enlarged  so  as  to  include 
Plymouth,   Maine  and   Nova 
Scotia.     Her  legislature  was 
restored,    but    every    law    it 
passed  had  to  receive  the  royal 
sanction,   while   the   governor 
was  appointed  by  the  Crown. 
Congregationalism    was    still 
the    state    religion,    but    the 
absolute    domination    of    the 
Puritan    clergy    was    at    an 
end,    for    the    religious    test 
for  citizenship  was  now  replaced  by  a  property  qualification. 
During  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  the 
charters  were  threatened  several  times,  but  were  never  again 
revoked,  and  the  colonies  continued  their  development  with 

i»  Bancroft,    "  History   of  the    United   States,"   vol.   iii.   pp.    78-82;    Greene, 
"  Provincial  America,"  ch.  ii. 


George  Edmund  Andros 

After  the  painting  in  the  possession 

of  his  descendant,  Major  Charles 

Andros,  of  London,  England 


V 


180  THE    UNITED    STATES 

only  such  serious  interruptions  as  the  wars  waged  against  the 
French  and  the  Indians,  which  were  but  an  echo  of  the  great 
contest  in  the  Old  World.  A  source  of  perennial  dispute 
was  the  governor's  salary,  in  which  the  Crown  tried  to  dictate, 
but  finally  had  to  yield,  and  the  matter  was  left  to  legislative 
discretion.  With  the  passing  years  more  and  more  emi- 
grants, mostly  English,  came  over,  and  the  settlements 
spread  to  the  west.  Connecticut  remained  almost  purely 
an  agricultural  community,  but  Massachusetts  and  Rhode 
Island  developed  a  large  carrying  trade.  Their  industrial 
and  social  life  will  be  described  in  another  chapter. 

VI 

NEW  YORK 

The  Dutch  were  bold  navigators,  and  after  the  defeat  of 
the  Spanish  Armada  their  rise  was  so  rapid  that  they  soon 
rivaled  the  power  which  had  defeated  their  old-time  enemy. 
It  was  an  Englishman,  Henry  Hudson,  who  in  September, 
1609,  while  in  the  employ  of  the  Dutch  East  India  Company, 
Sailed  up  the  river  which  bears  his  name  and  gave  them  a 
claim  to  "as  fair  a  land  as  ever  was  trodden  by  the  foot  of 
man."  The  country  between  the  Hudson  and  Delaware 
Bay,  which  the  navigator  also  entered,  was  named  New 
Netherland,  but  no  settlements  were  made  in  it  for  several 
years,  except  a  few  trading  posts. 

In  rlfl£l  the  Dutch  West  India  Company  was  chartered 
by  the  States  General  and  given  large  commercial  and  polit- 
ical powers  in  all  the  Dutch  possessions  between  the  straits 
of  Magellan  and  Newfoundland.20  Three  years  later  they 
sent  over  thirty  families  of  Walloons  (Protestant  refugees) , 
some  of  whom  settled  on  the  Delaware  River,  others  on  the 

20  Fiske,  "  Dutch  and  Quaker  Colonies,"  vol.  i.  p.  3. 


COLONIES  181 

Connecticut,  and  a  few  on  Long  Island.  Eight  stopped  on 
Manhattan,  but  the  greater  part  went  up  the  Hudson  to  the 
present  site  of  Albany,  which  they  called  Fo*rt  Orange.  We 
have  already  seen  that  the  English  claimed  all  this  country, 
and  had  even  granted  it  away  more  than  once.  However, 
they  were  allied  with  the  Dutch  at  this  time  against  their 
common  enemy,  Spain,  and  preferred  their  friendship  to 
the  trackless  forests  which  they  were  occupying. 

Cornelius  May,  whose  name  is  perpetuated  by  a  county 
and  cape  in  New  Jersey,  was  the  first  director  or  governor. 
In  1626  he  was  succeeded  by  Peter  Minuit,  who,  upon  his 
arrival,  bought  the  whole  of  Manhattan  Island  from  the 
Indians  for  trinkets  worth  about  twenty-four  dollars.  He 
built  a  fort  on  the  island  and  called  it  New  Amsterdam.21 
But  immigrants  were  few  in  number,  and  in  1629,  by  the 
charter  of  "  privileges  and  exemptions,"  an  effort  was  made 
to  attract  men  of  wealth  and  station.  It  was  simply  an  effort 
to  establish  the  feudal  system  in  America,  antedating  that 
in  Maryland  by  several  years.  Members  of  the  company 
were  privileged  to  plant  colonies  on  lands  purchased  by  them 
from  the  Indians.  Each  one  wh'o  established  as  many  as 
fifty  persons  over  fifteen  yea^  of  age  was  given  a  perpetual 
grant  of  a  tract  extending  sixteen  miles  along  the  river  or 
eight  miles  on  each  side,  and  indefinitely  into  the  interior.22 
The  tenants  were  practically  the  serfs  for  ten  years  of  the 
patroons,  as  the  proprietors  were  called,  who  collected  the 
rents  and  exercised  feudal  rights  of  government.  Some  of 
these  patroons  became  the  founders  of  families  still  well 
known  in  New  York.  Remnants  of  the  feudal  system  pre- 
vailed far  into  the  nineteenth  century,  but  the  attempt  to 
collect  rents  long  in  arrear  on  the  great  Van  Rensselaer  es- 

2i  Bancroft,  "History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  ii.  p.  279;  Fiske,  "Dutch 
and  Quaker  Colonies,"  vol.  i.  p.  116. 

22  Fiske,  "  Dutch  and  Quaker  Colonies  "  vol.  i.  p.  134. 


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From  the  original  in  the  Royal  Archives  at  The  Hague,  Holland 


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PLANTING     OF     COLONIES  183 

tate  led  to  riots  (1839-1846)  which  finally  caused  the  State 
to  abolish  all  such  rights. 

Still  the  colony  did  not  thrive.  The  patroons  were  great 
landlords  and  their  tenants  were  but  little  better  than  serfs. 
Traders  were  not  attracted,  because  the  company  had  a 
monopoly  of  commerce.  As  a  further  inducement  to  settlers, 
the  patroon  system  was  curtailed  and  trade  and  the  culti- 
vation of  the  soil  were  opened  to  all.  The  effect  was  not 
all  that  could  have  been  desired.  A  few  more  settlers  came 
in,  but  the  growth  was  slow,  for  in  1653  the  province  num- 
bered only  about  two  thousand  souls.  Yet  even  before  this 
it  had  attained  a  somewhat  cosmopolitan  character,  about 
eighteen  languages  being  spoken  within  its  bounds.23 

Minuit  was  succeeded  by  Vfn  T#ill#K*n  1632,  who  soon 
gave  place  to  Kieft,  an  autocrat  wlio^nade  things  lively  in 
and  about  the  colony  for  ten  years.  In  response  to  public 
opinion  he  was  forced  to  call  a  council  (1641)  representing 
the  different  settlements,  but  he  quarreled  with  this  and 
with  a  later  one  (1644),  and  was  finally  removed  on 
petition  of  the  colonists.  He  was  succeeded  by  Peter 
Stuyvesajat  (1647) ,  the  last  and  best  of  the  Dutch  governors. 
Althougnne  was  better  than  his  predecessors,  the  people 
were  not  satisfied  and  demanded  still  more  liberties,  for  the 
leaven  of  democracy  was  at  work  here  as  well  as  in  the 
English  colonies.  He  was  forced  to  call  a  council  (the  nine 
men),  but  the  body  was  made  self -perpetuating.  However, 
in  a  contest  over  excise  taxes  (1651)  the  people  won,  and  in 
1652  a  measure  of  municipal  government  was  granted  the 
colony.  In  the  matter  of  religion  Stuyvesant  sought  to  en- 
force conformity  to  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church,  and  perse- 
cuted dissenters  without  mercy  until  the  pressure  of  public 
opinion  forced  him  to  stop.  After  a  long  dispute  with  New 
England  he  agreed  to  give  up  all  claims  to  the  Connecticut 

23  Read  Schuyler's  "  Colonial  New  York/'  vol.  i. 


184 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


Valley  and  to  place  the  western  boundary  of  Connecticut 
about  where  it  now  is.  In  1655  he  forced  the  South  Sea  Com- 
pany of  Sweden  to  abandon  its  settlements  on  the  Dela- 
ware, which  had  been  made  under  the  leadership  of  Minuit, 
and  annexed  them  to  his  realm. 

But  the  time  for  the  Dutch  to  yield  soon  came.   For  cen- 


Peter  Stuyvesant 

Painting   owned   by   the    New   York    Historical   Society, 

New  York 

turies  the  English  and  Dutch  had  been  firm  friends ;  but  the 
rapid  rise  of  the  Netherlands  as  a  sea  power  after  humbling 
Spain  caused  England  to  become  jealous  of  the  increasing 
maritime  supremacy  of  the  Dutch.  The  policy  of  Chanes 
II.  was  vacillating;  sometimes  he  was  the  pensioner  of  the 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES         ,       185 

1 
French  king,  sometimes  the  ally  of  the  Stadtholder.  Pre- 
texts for  interference  in  America  were  not  hard  to  find. 
There  was  the  constant  friction  between  the  English  and 
Dutch  settlers  and  the  evasion  of  the  Navigation  Acts  by 
the  Dutch.  Then,  too,  the  finest  harbor  on  the  continent 
separated  the  English  colonies,  a  harbor  which,  with  its 
environs,  England  now  claimed  by  right  of  discovery.  All 
the  country  from  the  Connecticut  to  the  Delaware  must  be 
made  English,  and  in  16Q4  Charles  granted  it  to  his  brother, 
James,  Duke  of  York. 

Richard  Nicolls  was  sent  over  with  some  of  the  king's 
troops  to  make  good  this  claim.  He  landed  in  Boston,  and 
sought  help  there,  but  obtained  none,  and  turned  to  Connec- 
ticut, who  sent  her  militia.  When  he  arrived  before  New 
Amsterdam  Stuyvesant  rushed  about  as  fast  as  his  wooden 
leg  would  carry  him  and  summoned  the  people  to  defend 
the  fort;  but  they  contrasted  the  liberties  of  the  English 
colonists  with  their  own,  and  refused  to  support  him  loyally, 
in  consequence  of  which  he  was  forced  to  surrender.24  He 
went  to  Holland,  but  returned  to  the  colony,  where  he  and 
Nicolls  drank  many  a  bumper  of  ale  together.  His  memory 
is  still  preserved  in  the  names  of  certain  localities  in  New 
York  city.25 

At  the  time  of  the  conquest  the  colony  contained  about 
ten  thousand  inhabitants,  of  whom  about  fifteen  hundred 
were  on  Manhattan  Island.  Nicolls  became  governor  and 
at  once  took  up  the  work  of  Anglicizing  the  colony.  The 
name  of  the  province,  as  also  that  of  the  town  of  Manhat- 
tan, was  changed  to  New  York,  and  Fort  Orange  became 
Albany.  However,  few  immediate  changes  were  made  in 
the  political  system  beyond  the  introduction  of  trial  by  jury, 

24  Bancroft,  "History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  ii.  p.  313;  Fiske,  "Dutch 
and  Quaker  Colonies,"  vol.  i.  p.  299. 

25  Stevens,  "  The  English  in  New  York,"  in  Winsor,  "  Nar.  and  Crit.  Hist.," 
vol.  iii.  ch.  x. 


186  THE     UNITED      STATES 

the  granting  of  equality  in  the  matter  of  taxation,  and  the 
promulgation  of  the  Duke's  Laws.  The  latter,  drawn  by 
Nicolls  and  a  convention  of  the  settlers,  provided  a  system 
of  town  government  whereby  a  constable  and  eight  overseers 
were  elected  by  the  people  and  vested  with  judicial  and  legis- 
lative power.  Several  towns  were  combined  into  a  "  riding," 
presided  over  by  a  sheriff.  In  1683  these  ridings  developed 
into  counties;  afterwards  (1703)  it  was  arranged  that  super- 
visors should  be  elected  by  each  town.  Thus  the  whole 
system  of  local  government  was  a  sort  of  compromise 
between  the  town  system  of  New  England  and  the  county 
system  of  the  south,  and  gave  rise  to  the  mixed  system  now 
prevalent  in  most  of  the  States.  Religious  liberty  was 
guaranteed  to  all. 

Outside  the  towns  the  people  had  no  share  in  their  own 
government,  for  the  sheriff  was  appointed  by  the  governor 
and  the  laws  were  made  by  the  duke.  The  English  settlers 
clamored  for  more  liberties.  No  man  can  be  contented  with- 
out security  of  property.  The  Dutch  were  vexed  by  an  order 
that  all  land  grants  must  be  confirmed  by  the  new  governor, 
for  which  he  was  allowed  to  exact  a  fee.  In  consequence 
they  welcomed  the  Dutch  fleet  when  it  appeared  before  the 
city  in  1673,  but  their  joy  was  shortlived,  for  the  English 
were  again  in  possession  the  following  year.  Edmund 
Andros  then  came  out  as  governor.  His  rule  was  vigorous 
and  on  the  whole  wise,  but  the  agitation  for  more  liberties 
was  kept  up.  In  1680  he  was  recalled  and  Thomas  Dongan 
sent  in  his  place.  Three  years  later  Dongan  yielded  to  the 
demands  of  the  people  and  called  an  assembly.  This  body 
drew  up  a  charter  of  liberties,  to  which  the  king  gave  his 
assent.  This  provided  that  the  assembly  should  be  coordi- 
nate with  the  governor  and  council  in  legislation;  that  no 
taxes  should  be  levied  without  the  consent  of  the  assembly; 
that  the  franchise  should  be  extended  to  all  freemen  and 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES 


187 


free-holders,  and  that  religious  toleration  should  be  given 
to  all  Christians.26  But  their  liberties  were  not  enjoyed 
long;   James  hated  popular  government  even  more  than 


*****  /£urtA-#W  *  < 


m^^tM*. 


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-  ^  PtfV" 


Document   Signed  by  Peter   Stuyvesant 
From  the  original  in  the  Myers  Collection,  Lenox  Branch  of  the  New  York 

Public  Library 

Charles,  and  when  he  came  to  the  throne  he  abolished  the 
charter  of  liberties  (1686),  annexed  New  York  to  New 
England,  and  appointed  Andros  to  govern  the  whole  as  a 
royal  province. 

But  relief  soon  came  in  the  enforced  abdication  of  the 
king  and  the  imprisonment  qf  Andros  (1688-1689).  Jacob 
Leisler,  a  German  shopkeeper,  headed  the  revolution  in  New 
York  and  proclaimed  William  and  Mary  as  the  lawful  sov- 
ereigns.    He  governed  the  colony  with  energy,  and  took 

26  Thwaites,  "  The  Colonies,"  p.  205. 


188  THE    UNITED    STATES 

active  measures  to  defend  it  against  the  French  and  Indians. 
At  his  call  the  first  Colonial  Congress  met  at  Albany  in  1690 
to  take  counsel  for  measures  of  defense  and  offense  against 
the  French  and  their  Indian  allies.  But  Leisler  was  rash, 
and  many  of  his  arbitrary  acts  offended  the  so-called  con- 
servative element.  This  element  was,  in  the  main,  the 
Andros  party,  and  the  members  were  known  to  be  sympa- 
thizers of  the  Stuarts. 

In  1691  Colonel  Henry  Sloughter  came  out  as  governor. 
Leisler  was  arrested  on  the  charge  of  treason  and  imprisoned. 
The  anti-Leisler  party  acquired  the  ascendency  with  the  new 
governor.  Leisler  was  convicted,  and  Sloughter,  while 
intoxicated,  placed  his  signature  to  the  death  warrant. 
This  judicial  murder  of  Leisler  profoundly  affected  New 
York  politics.  For  many  years  the  two  parties  in  the  colony 
kept  up  a  bitter  controversy,  and  each  governor  found  it 
necessary  to  ally  himself  with  one  or  the  other  of  them.27 
Sloughter's  successor,  Benjamin  Fletcher,  was  an  unprin- 
cipled scoundrel  and  caused  the  colony  much  distress.  It 
was  during  his  administration  that  New  York  became  a 
center  for  the  illegal  trade  with  the  pirates  that  infested  the 
Indies.  It  is  not  at  all  certain  that  Fletcher  himself  was 
not  personally  interested  in  this  traffic.  Many  efforts  were 
made  to  suppress  the  sea  robbers.  Among  other  schemes,  a 
hardy  mariner,  named  William  Kidd,  was  sent  out  to  prey 
upon  them.  But  the  chance  for  gain  was  too  tempting  for 
him  and  his  men,  and  he  turned  pirate  and  became  the  most 
famous  of  them  all.  After  about  two  and  a  half  years  of 
this  life,  Kidd  appeared  on  the  American  coast  in  1699.  In 
the  meantime  Fletcher  had  been  succeeded  by  Bellomont. 
It  had  been  under  the  latter's  advice  that  Kidd  had  been  sent 
out.  Kidd  hoped  to  secure  immunity  through  his  wealth  and 
his  acquaintance  with  Bellomont.     In  this  he  was  mistaken, 

27  Fiske,  "  Dutch  and  Quaker  Colonies,"  vol.  ii.  pp.  183-208. 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES  189 

and  in  an  effort  to  convince  Bellomont  of  his  innocence  he 
landed  in  Boston,  was  arrested,  sent  to  England  for  trial, 
and  finally  executed.  Where  he  disposed  of  his  fabulous 
wealth  is  one  of  the  mysteries  men  are  still  trying  to  solve.28 

The  next  governor,  the  Earl  of  Bellomont  (1698- 
1701),  was  perhaps  the  best  the  colony  ever  had.29  He  was 
also  the  first  governor  sent  out  under  the  new  Board  of  Trade 
and  Plantations.  He  allied  himself  with  the  old  Leisler 
party  and  managed  to  carry  on  the  government  in  a  most 
vigorous  manner. 

Bellomont  was  succeeded  by  Cornbury,  who  proved  him- 
self one  of  the  most  rapacious  governors  that  ever  plundered 
the  colony.  It  was  due  to  his  mismanagement  that  the  as- 
sembly appointed  a  treasurer  of  its  own  and  took  full  charge 
of  expenditures  for  war  purposes  (1706).  The  movement 
thus  begun  could  not  be  stopped.  The  assembly  constantly 
enlarged  its  scope  of  activity.  The  council  was  denied  any 
voice  in  the  framing  of  money  bills,  all  taxes  were  lodged 
with  the  treasurer  appointed  by  the  assembly,  committees 
were  appointed  to  carry  out  its  orders,  and  in  1739  the 
assembly  proceeded  to  appropriate  salaries  by  name  and  for 
specific  offices,  so  that  the  governor  and  council  lost  all 
practical  control  over  appointments.  Thus  New  York 
furnishes  a  good  illustration  of  what  was  going  on  in  all 
the  colonies  during  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
In  all  of  them  the  assemblies  were  slowly  but  surely  acquir- 
ing practically  all  control  of  government,  executive  as  well 
as  legislative. 

A  trial  which  occurred  in  1735  deserves  notice  here,  be- 
cause of  its  bearing  upon  the  history  of  liberty.  Governor 
Cosby  brought  suit  in  the  Supreme  Court  to  secure  a  sum 
of  money,  but  the  case  went  against  him.     Thereupon  he 

28  Fiske,  "  Dutch  and  Quaker  Colonies,"  vol.  ii.  pp.  226-235. 

29  ibid.,  vol.  ii.  p.  22%. 


/ 
190  THE    UNITED    STATES 

removed  the  judge  and  appointed  one  of  his  partisans. 
Peter  Zenger,  editor  of  the  New  York  Weekly  Journal, 
then  criticised  the  governor  unmercifully  in  his  paper.  In 
retaliation  the  governor  ordered  the  paper  to  be  burned  and 
prosecuted  Zenger  for  libel,  but  again  lost.  This  was  an 
important  victory  for  the  freedom  of  the  press  which  has 
never  been  forgotten. 

In  spite  of  a  succession  of  bad  governors,  New  York 
enjoyed  a  steady  growth.  Its  cosmopolitan  character  was 
maintained  by  the  arrival  of  immigrants  from  the  various 
countries  of  Europe,  but  the  English  and  Dutch  predom- 
inated. New  York  city  became  a  center  of  trade,  but  the 
commercial  preeminence  which  it  now  enjoys  was  not  at- 
tained in  Colonial  times. 


VII 

DELAWARE   AND   NEW  JERSEY 

Three  different  nations,  the  Dutch,  the  Swedes  and  the 
English  laid  claim  to  Delaware.  It  also  had  three  different 
individuals  as  proprietors,  Lord  Baltimore,  the  Duke  of 
York  and  William  Penn.  The  Dutch  made  the  first  settle- 
ment within  the  present  bounds  of  the  State  (near  Lewes) 
in  1631;  but  the  little  colony  was  destroyed  by  the  Indians. 
Next  came  some  Englishmen  from  New  Haven,  only  to  be 
taken  prisoners  by  the  Dutch.  The  third  attempt  was  made 
by  the  South  Sea  Company  of  Sweden,  which  was  chartered 
by  the  great  soldier-statesman,  Gustavus  Adolphus,  in  1624. 
In  1638  Peter  Minuit,  whom  we  have  already  met  as  gov- 
ernor of  New  Amsterdam,  led  out  the  first  company  from 
Sweden  and  built  Fort  Christina  where  Wilmington  now 
stands.  Governor  Kieft  protested  against  this  invasion  of 
Dutch  territory,  and  no  doubt  his  ire  was  raised  all  the  more 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES 


191 


because  it  was  done  under  the  leadership  of  one  of  his  prede- 
cessors. But  the  Swedes  paid  no  attention  to  Kieft  except 
to  build  another  fort  to  checkmate  his  rebuilding  of  Fort 
Nassau.  _.  Then  came  more  English  from  New  Haven,  but 
the  Dutch  and  Swedes  forgot  their  own  animosities  long 
enough  to  unite  in  driving  out  the  race  whose  thirst  for  land 
was  becoming  as  insatia- 
ble as  that  of  the  Spanish 
for  gold.  New  Sweden, 
as  the  colony  was  called, 
prospered  for  a  while, 
but  as  already  related, 
was  captured  by  the 
Dutch  in  1655.30  Apart, 
and  later  the  rest  of  it, 
was  sold  to  the  city  of 
Amsterdam,  under  whose 
government  there  was  a 
period  of  retrogression. 
With  the  conquest  of 
New  Amsterdam  it  pass- 
ed into  the  hands  of  the 
Duke  of  York,  who  in 
turn  sold  it  (1682)  to 
William  Penn  to  give 
him  an  outlet  to  the  sea.  Thereafter  it  was  known  as  the 
"  Three  Lower  Counties,"  or  "  Territories  "  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  was  governed  as  a  sort  of  province  of  that  col- 
ony. It  had  no  separate  governor,  but  secured  a  legislature 
of  its  own  in  1702. 

In  New  Jersey  the  Dutch  built  two  forts,  Fort  Nassau 
and  one  on  the  Hudson;  but  the  history  of  the  colony  really 
begins  with  its  cession  to  Lord  Berkeley  and  Sir  George 

so  Bancroft,  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  ii.  p.  297. 


William  Penn 
From  a  painting  by  G.  Kneller 


192  THE    UNITED    STATES 

Carteret  by  the  Duke  of  York  in  1664.  It  was  named  New 
Jersey  for  the  island  of  Jersey,  which  Carteret  had  governed 
and  held  for  Charles  II.  during  the  Commonwealth.  Col- 
onization began  the  next -year  with  the  settlement  of  Eliz- 
abethtown.  A  few  Dutch,  Swedes,  and  New  Englanders 
were  already  on  the  ground.  More  came  from  New  Eng- 
land and  settled  JVliddletown  and  Newark.  In  1668  the  first 
assembly  met  at  Elizabethtown.  The  severity  of  its  code 
of  laws — the  death  penalty  was  attached  to  thirteen  crimes 
— testifies  to  the  predominance  of  the  Puritan  spirit.  A 
period  of  turbulence  began  with  the  disputes  over  quit-rents 
in  1670,  and  Berkeley  finally  sold  out  his  interest  in  dis- 
gust to  a  party  of  Quakers.  They  in  turn  soon  sold  out  to 
William  Penn. 

The  Dutch  recaptured  New  Jersey  in  1673,  but  gave 
it  back  on  the  conclusion  of  peace  the  following  year.  In 
1676  a  new  charter  was  issued,  giving  the  eastern  part,  or 
East  Jersey,  to  Carteret,  and  the  western,  or  West  Jersey, 
to  the  Quakers.  The  two  provinces  were  then  governed  sep- 
arately. In  West  Jersey  the  proprietor  "  put  the  power  in 
the  people,"  giving  them  religious  freedom  and  a  represent- 
ative assembly.  This  liberal  government  attracted  settlers, 
and  four  hundred  Quakers  came  over  in  1677.  Their  first 
settlement  was  at  Burlington.  In  1682  the  heirs  of  Carteret 
sold  East  Jersey  to  a  company  of  twenty- four,  including 
William  Penn.  This  province  then  received  a  government 
very  much  like  that  of  West  Jersey,  and  all  went  smoothly 
for  a  time. 

The  disturbance  came  when  James  II.  revoked  the 
Jersey  charters  on  writs  of  quo  warranto  (1686)  and  added 
them  to  New  York  with  Andros  as  governor.  A  period  of 
turbulence  then  followed,  for  the  people  of  New  Jersey  were 
no  less  democratic  in  spirit  than  their  neighbors.  They  re- 
sisted the  effort  of  Andros  to  levy  taxes  without  a  repre- 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES  198 

sentative  assembly,  and  disputed  with  the  proprietors  about 
the  quit-rents.  At  last  the  proprietors,  weary  of  their  profit- 
less task,  surrendered  their  claims  to  the  Crown,  and  New 
Jersey  became  a  royal  province  (1702).  Although  it  was 
a  separate  province,  it  did  not  have  a  governor  of  its  own. 
The  governor  of  New  York  and  a  deputy  performed  the 
executive  functions.  This  was  a  constant  source  of  com- 
plaint on  the  part  of  the  people  of  New  Jersey,  and  finally 
in  1738  they  were  given  a  governor  of  their  own. 

During  Revolutionary  times  New  Jersey  made  at  least 
one  important  contribution  to  constitutional  government. 
This  consisted  in  the  decision  of  a  court  that  an  act  of  the 
Assembly  was  void  because  it  violated  the  frame  of  govern- 
ment.31 The  case  is  that  of  Holmes  vs.  Walton,  and  it  was 
a  suit  involving  the  validity  of  a  law  providing  for  a  jury  of 
six  to  condemn  goods  seized  while  being  carried  to  the  camp 
of  the  enemy.  The  courts  held  that  the  constitution  pro- 
vided for  a  jury  of  twelve  and  that  a  smaller  jury  was 
illegal.32 

VIII 

PENNSYLVANIA 

William  Penn,  the  founder  of  Pennsylvania,  was  born 
in  1644.  His  father  was  an  admiral  in  the  English  navy,  and 
William  himself  was  popular  at  court  until  he  became  a  con- 
vert to  the  Quaker  faith,  nothing  of  which  could  have  been 
more  at  variance  with  the  tastes  of  Charles  II.  The  Quakers 
were  guided  by  an  "  inner  light,"  which  led  them  to  disre- 
gard all  social  distinctions,  to  refuse  to  engage  in  wars  or 
pay  taxes  to  carry  them  on,  and  to  practice  the  utmost  sim- 

3i  Whitehead,  "The  English  in   East  and  West  Jersey,"  in  Winsor,  "  Nar. 
and  Crit.  Hist.,"  vol.  iii.  ch.  xi. 

32  "  American  Historical  Review,"  vol.  iv.  p.  456. 


194 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


plicity  in  their  manner  of  living.  Persecution  drove  them 
into  many  extravagant  practices  which  members  of  the  sect 
to-day  would  not  defend;  but  on  the  whole  they  were  fight- 


Copyright,  1905,  by  John  D.  Morris  &  Company 

William  Pexn  at  the  Age  of  Twenty-two 

Painted  in  1666  by  an  unknown  artist,  probably  Sir  Peter 

Lely,  preserved  at  Stoke  Pogis  until  1813,  and  then 

presented  to  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania 

ing  the  battle  which  Socrates  fought  centuries  before  for 
religious  and  intellectual  freedom.  When  William  Penn 
became  a  convert  to  their  faith  he  turned  to  the  New  World 
to  see  if  there  was  not  some  spot  where  his  people  could  be 
free  from  the  pitiless  laws  of  England  and  Massachusetts.33 

ssFiske,  "Dutch  and  Quaker  Colonies,"  vol.  ii.  p.  99;  Bancroft,  "History  of 
the  United  States,"  vol.  ii.  ch.  xvi. 


•    >•',•    ) 


i 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES  197 

Upon  the  death  of  his  father,  William  Penn  became 
heir  to  a  claim  of  £16,000  against  the  English  king.  Penn 
petitioned  the  king  for  an  extensive  grant  of  land  north  of 
Maryland,  not  as  payment  for  his  debt,  but  in  order  that  he 
might  restore  his  fortunes.  He  evidently  believed  that  by 
careful  management  of  the  plantation  he  would  be  able  to 
meet  indebtedness  caused  by  certain  Irish  losses  and  by  the 
repudiation  of  the  debt  owed  him  by  the  king.  This  grant, 
in  spite  of  Penn's  protest,  was  named  Pennsylvania  in 
honor  of  Admiral  Penn.34  The  grant  also  contained  the 
seeds  of  the  customary  boundary  dispute.  It  began  between 
Penn  and  Baltimore,  passed  on  to  their  heirs,  and  lasted 
nearly  a  hundred  years.  Finally  the  famous  Mason  and 
Dixon's  line  was  run  between  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland 
(1767)  and  the  dispute  was  at  an  end.  Nearly  a  century 
later  another  dispute  between  the  people  on  either  side  of  this 
line  was  settled  by  an  appeal  to  arms. 

The  charter  clothed  Penn  with  ample  powers  of  govern- 
ment, but  it  differed  from  previous  charters  in  at  least  two 
important  respects.  It  did  not  guarantee  to  the  settlers  the 
rights  of  Englishmen  and  it  reserved  to  the  English  Parlia- 
ment the  right  to  tax  the  colonists.  Penn  at  once  prepared 
a  pamphlet  advertising  his  scheme  of  colonization.  This 
set  forth  the  advantages  of  the  colony,  the  kind  of  govern- 
ment that  was  to  be  established,  and  the  manner  in  which 
land  would  be  granted.  One  hundred  acres  of  land  could 
be  had  for  two  pounds,  and  the  settlers  were  to  have  a  share 
in  framing  the  laws.  This  pamphlet  was  widely  distributed 
in  England,  Ireland,  Holland,  and  Germany.35  In  this 
effort  Penn  proved  himself  one  of  the  most  successful 
advertisers  of  "  cheap  western  land." 

The  liberal  terms  attracted  many  settlers,  and  three  ship- 
loads came  over  in  1681,  under  the  leadership  of  William 

34  Andrews,  "Colonial  Self  Government,"  p.  16& 

35  J  bid.,  p.  1T8, 


198 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


Markham,  who  became  the  first  governor.  A  few  Swedes 
were  already  on  the  ground,  and  they  were  asked  to  remain. 
Penn  himself  came  over  the  following  year  and  took  up  the 
work  of  supervising  the  colony.  According  to  the  constitu- 
tion drawn  up  by  him,  the  governor  was  to  be  appointed  by 
the  proprietor,  but  all  other  executive  officers  and  both  the 
council  and  the  assembly  were  to  be  elected  by  the  freemen. 

At  first  laws  could  be 
originated  only  by  the 
governor  and  council, 
but  the  assembly  pro- 
tested against  this  and 
finally  won.  All 
Christians,  except  ser- 
vants and  convicts,  en- 
joyed political  rights. 
The  first  legislature 
met  at  Chester  in  1682, 
and  the  second  at  Phil- 
adelphia in  16  8  3. 
Among      the      laws 


*"•■•'  *.».. 

iy* 

^^ki9aHKK-  ^4h3 

Old  Penn  Mansion 

As  removed  to  Fairmount  Park,  Philadelphia, 

Pennsylvania 

adopted  were  some  providing  for  the  humane  treatment  of 
the  Indians,  the  teaching  of  a  trade  to  each  child,  the  useful 
employment  and  reformation  of  criminals,  and  religious 
toleration. 

After  some  time  had  been  spent  in  allotting  lands,  Penn 
passed  up  the  Delaware  and  laid  out  Philadelphia-,  deter- 
mined to  make  it  unlike  the  crowded  cities  of  the  Old  World. 
In  this  he  succeeded,  for  Philadelphia,  with  its  broad  streets 
running  at  right  angles  to  each  other,  has  become  the  model 
followed  by  most  American  cities.  Soon  after  this  he 
met  the  chiefs  of  the  Delaware  Indians  to  discuss  with  them 
the  terms  of  purchase  for  their  lands.  It  took  the  Indians 
some  time  to  form  a  resolution,  but  they  finally  came  to  terms 


PLANTING     OF     COLONIES  201 

and  Penn  met  them  in  council  to  ratify  the  agreement. 
Benjamin  West's  celebrated  painting  gives  an  idea  of  the 
simplicity  and  mutual  confidence  which  characterized  the 
meeting.  The  promise  to  "  live  in  love  with  William  Penn 
and  his  children  as  long  as  the  sun  and  moon  give  light  "  was 
kept  long  after  those  who  made  it  had  passed  away.36 

Penn  desired  to  make  his  home  in  the  colony,  but  was 
forced  to  return  to  England  in  1684  by  the  boundary  dis- 
pute with  Lord  Baltimore.  In  1685  he  succeeded  in  getting 
a  report  in  his  favor  from  the  Lords  of  Trade.  He  was  also 
of  great  help  to  his  Quaker  friends,  who  were  being  severely 
persecuted  as  dissenters.  Owing  to  his  intimate  relations 
with  the  Stuarts,  and  his  success  in  receiving  the  royal  par- 
don on  so  many  occasions,  he  was  suspected  of  siding  with 
them  at  the  time  of  the  revolution  (1688),  and  was  deprived 
of  his  colony  (1692) .  It  was  restored  to  him  two  years  later. 
When  he  returned  to  America  in  1699  he  found  that  his  lit- 
tle colony  had  grown  to  one  of  twenty  thousand  inhabitants 
and  that  the  child  in  its  maturer  growth  had  forgotten  some 
of  its  filial  regard.  Delaware  clamored  for  a  separate  legis- 
lature, and  Penn  granted  it.  The  assembly  of  Pennsylvania 
complained  of  the  council,  and  its  influence  was  still  further 
reduced.  "  If,"  said  the  greatest  of  all  the  colony  planters, 
"  the  people  want  of  me  anything  that  would  make  them  hap- 
pier, I  shall  readily  grant  it."  Still  dissensions  went  on.  In 
1701  he  again  left  the  scene  of  his  philanthropic  labors,  never 
to  return.  He  died  in  1718,  and  so  passed  one  who  was  in- 
deed the  greatest  and  best  of  our  colonial  founders.  Yet 
he  had  his  limitations.  He  appears  to  have  been  sincere  in 
his  attempts  to  found  a  government  based  on  the  equality 
of  human  rights,  yet  saw  no  inconsistency  in  enslaving  the 
black  man,  though  his  will  did  provide  for  the  emancipation 
of  his  slaves.    Not  quite  a  century  later  a  celebrated  state- 

36  Fiske,  "  Dutch  and  Quaker  Colonies,"  vol.  ii.  p.  159. 


202  THE    UNITED    STATES 

paper  drawn  up  in  Philadelphia  declared  that  all  men  were 
created  equal,  yet  nobody  dreamed  that  the  black  man  was 
a  part  of  "  all  men."  Upon  Penn's  death  the  colony  passed 
to  his  heirs  and  remained  to  them  a  source  of  perhaps  more 
annoyance  than  profit  until  the  Revolution. 

The  growth  of  Pennsylvania  was  rapid  and  substantial. 
By  the  time  of  the  Revolution  she  hardly  yielded  to  Virginia 
and  Massachusetts  in  importance.  The  Germans,  the  Dutch, 
the  Scotch,  and  the  Scotch-Irish  came  to  swell  her  numbers, 
and  their  influence  exists  there  to  this  day.37 

37  For  a  comprehensive  constitutional  history  of  Pennsylvania  during  the 
Colonial  period,  see  W.  R.  Shepherd,  "  History  of  Proprietary  Government  in 
Pennsylvania." 


Chapter    V 
GOVERNMENT   OF   THE    COLONIES 

BLACKSTONE,  in  his  commentaries,1  classified  the 
English  colonial  governments  in  America  as  charter, 
royal  or_provincial,  and  jproprietary,  and  this  clas- 
sification continued  until  very  recently  to  be  accepted  by 
historical  writers  as  the  most  convenient  and  logical  arrange- 
ment which  could  be  devised. 

The  charter  colony  was  described  as  one  whose  govern- 
mental organization  was  set  forth  in  a  charter  granted  by 
the  Crown,  which  charter  served  as  a  limitation  on  the  power 
of  the  king.  It  was  a  sort  of  civil  corporation  empowered 
to  make  by-laws  not  repugnant  to  the  laws  of  England. 
The  royal  colony  was  under  the  direct  and  immediate  au- 
thority of  the  Crown,  subject  to  his  pleasure  and  without 
limitation  upon  his  power.  The  royal  commissions  to  the 
governors  and  the  instructions  accompanying  them  consti- 
tuted the  basis  of  the  government  of  the  colony.  The  pro- 
prietary colony  was  one  in  which  supreme  authority  was 
vested  in  a  proprietor  or  proprietaries,  who  received  a  grant 
of  land  from  the  king  in  the  nature  of  a  feudatory 
principality.2 

A  more  scientific  and  logical  classification  is  that  sug- 
gested by  Professor  Osgood,  one  of  the  leading  authorities 
on  American  colonial  history.  He  classifies  the  thirteen 
colonial  governments  under  two  heads,  namely,  the  corpo- 
ration and  the  province.    The  former  included  those  colonial 

i  Blackstone,  "  Commentaries  on  the  Laws  of  England,"  vol.  i.  sec.  3. 
2  Story,  "Commentaries  on  the  Constitution,"  see.  10. 

203 


204  THE    UNITED    STATES 

establishments  which  were  in  the  nature  of  a  corporation 
possessing  certain  privileges  of  government,  which  were  set 
forth  in  a  charter.  At  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution 
there  were  three  such  colonies,  namely,  Massachusetts,  Rhode 
Island,  and  Connecticut.  The  provincial  group  included  the 
three  so-called  proprietary  colonies  of  Pennsylvania,  Del- 
aware, and  Maryland,  and  the  royal  colonies  of  Virginia, 
the  Carolinas,  New  Hampshire,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and 
Georgia.3 

The  form  of  government  in  the  several  colonies  varied 
from  time  to  time,  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  but  two  of  them, 
namely,  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island,  continued  under  the 
same  form  from  their  establishment  until  the  Revolution. 
The  corporate  and  proprietary  forms  were  the  most  general 
at  first,  and  until  1685,  in  fact,  there  were  no  royal  govern- 
ments in  America  except  in  Virginia  and  New  Hampshire. 
From  the  standpoint  of  the  Crown,  however,  there  were 
serious  objections  to  the  corporate  and  proprietary  govern- 
ments, and  they  gradually  fell  into  disfavor.  This  was  due 
mainly  to  the  fact  that  the  former  possessed  rather  too  much 
local  autonomy  to  admit  of  effective  royal  control,  while  the 
latter  had  certain  inherent  defects  in  the  nature  of  their 
form  of  organization  that  led  to  prolonged  controversies  and 
embarrassments  to  the  royal  interests.4 

During  the  last  years  of  the  Stuart  period,  therefore,  a 
policy  looking  toward  the  establishment  of  a  more  effective 
royal  control  over  the  colonies  was  adopted.     In  pursuance 

3  See  his  article  in  the  "  Political  Science  Quarterly,"  vol.  ii. ;  also  his  "  Ameri- 
can Colonies  in  the  Seventeenth  Century,"  vol.  i.  pp.  28-29.  Professor  Osgood 
shows  that  the  term  "charter"  cannot  be  used  to  describe  a  form  of  government, 
that  it  signifies  nothing  as  to  internal  organization,  and  that  such  a  term  relates 
only  to  the  method  of  origin.  Moreover,  the  proprietary  colonies  also  had  charters, 
and  the  royal  colonies  were,  so  far  as  internal  organization  was  concerned,  essen- 
tially the  same  as  the  proprietary  colonies. 

*E.  B.  Greene,  "The  Provincial  Governor,"  pp.  11-15;  see  also  the  author's 
later  and  more  comprehensive  work,  "  Provincial  America,"  chs.  iii.  and  ivf 


GOVERNMENT    OF    COLONIES  205 

of  the  new  policy  one  colony  after  another  was  deprived  of 
its  charter,  often  on  mere  technical  grounds,  by  means 
of  the  writ  of  quo  warranto  instituted  by  the  Attorney- 
General.  The  result  was  that  by  1729  all  of  the  colonies 
except  four  (Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Connecticut,  and 
Rhode  Island)  had  been  brought  directly  under  royal  con- 
trol, and  the  colony  of  Georgia,  founded  after  this  date, 
suffered  the  same  fate  in  1752.  It  is  but  fair  to  say,  how- 
ever, that  in  making  this  change  the  Crown  was  not  always 
animated  by  a  spirit  of  hostility  to  the  liberties  of  the  col- 
onists, but  its  action  was  adopted  partly  in  the  interests  of 
stricter  enforcement  of  the  laws  and  the  establishment  of  a 
more  efficient  government.  In  the  place  of  the  liberal  charter 
originally  granted  Massachusetts,  and  under  which  it  had 
existed  for  nearly  three-quarters  of  a  century  as  a  practically 
self-governing  commonwealth,  a  less  liberal  instrument  was 
substituted  in  1691,  which  virtually  reduced  the  colony  to 
the  position  of  a  royal  province.  Connecticut  successfully 
warded  off  all  attacks  upon  its  charter  and  continued 
alone  with  Rhode  Island  to  enjoy  virtual  self-government 
throughout  the  entire  colonial  period,  the  liberal  charters 
of  both  being  retained,  in  fact,  as  Constitutions  long  after 
the  two  colonies  had  become  commonwealths  of  the  American 
Union.  As  colonies  they  occupied  a  class  by  themselves  and 
rarely  had  cause  of  complaint  against  the  colonial  policy 
of  the  mother  country. 

On  the  whole,  there  was  a  striking  similarity  in  the 
forms  of  political  organization  prevailing  in  the  several  col- 
onies. In  each  there  was  a  governor,  who  was  the  chief 
executive  of  the  colony,  a  legislature  consisting  of  a  council 
and  a  popular  assembly  and  a  judiciary.  The  governor  was 
chosen  in  the  self-governing  commonwealths  of  Connecticut 
and  Rhode  Island  by  popular  vote;  in  the  so-called  royal 
colonies  he  was  appointed  by  the  Crown,  usually  upon  the 


206 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


recommendation  of  the  Board  of  Trade ;  and  in  the  so-called 
proprietary  provinces  by  the  proprietor  with  the  approval  of 
the  Crown.  The  methods  by  which  appointments  to  colonial 
governorships  were  secured  were  often  corrupt  and  dis- 
honorable, and  not  infrequently  non-residents  of  poor  char- 
acter, persons  broken  in  fortune,  or  individuals  who  had  be- 
come political  outcasts  at  home  were  sent  over  to  govern  in 
America  and  incidentally  to  recover  their  lost  prestige  and 
fortune.5 

The  tenure  of  the  governor  was  usually  stated  in  his 
commission  to  be  at  the  king's  pleasure;  the  average  term 
in  Massachusetts,  after  the  new  charter  of  1691,  being  about 


Early  Issue  of  New  Jersey  Paper  Money 
Original  in  the  Lenox  Library 

eight  years.  Life  commissions  such  as  that  granted  to  Lord 
Delaware  were  rare.  The  territorial  jurisdiction  of  the  gov- 
ernor sometimes  included  several  colonies,  as  was  the  case 
with  Sir  Edmund  Andros,  who  in  1688  was  made  governor 
of  New  England,  New  Jersey,  and  New  York,  and  of  the 
Earl  of  Bellomont,  who  in  1697  became  governor  of  Mass- 
achusetts, New  York,  and  New  Hampshire. 

The  governor's  salary  was  larger  in  proportion  than  at 
the  present  time,  to  enable  him  to  maintain  a  semi-regal 
dignity,  as  the  representative  of  the  Crown.  In  addition  to 
a  stipulated  salary  he  received  fees  and  perquisites  of  various 

5  Greene,  "  The  Provincial  Governor,"  p.  47. 


GOVERNMENT    OF    COLONIES  207 

kinds  and  sometimes  a  share  of  fines  and  forfeitures,  or  a 
percentage  of  the  property  of  persons  dying  intestate. 

The  legal  position  of  the  governor  in  the  royal  colonies 
was  of  a  two-fold  character:  he  was  the  chief  executive  of 
the  colony  and  the  resident  agent  of  the  home  government. 
As  the  representative  of  the  Crown  he  recommended  to  the 
colonial  assembly  legislation  which  the  Crown  desired  to 
have  enacted,  kept  the  home  government  informed  of  the 
condition  of  the  province  and  of  its  needs,  transmitted 
statutes,  records  of  legislative  proceedings  and  other  docu- 
ments, and  exerted  himself  to  prevent  the  passage  of  laws 
injurious  to  the  interests  of  the  Crown  and  the  mother 
country.  The  organ  through  which  the  governor  commu- 
nicated with  the  home  government  was  the  "  Board  of 
Trade,"  or  the  "  Lords  of  Trade  and  Plantations,"  as  it  was 
called.  This  board  was  created  by  act  of  Parliament  in  1696 
for  "  promoting  the  trade  of  the  Kingdom  and  for  inspect- 
ing and  improving  his  majesty's  plantations  in  America 
and  elsewhere."  It  examined  the  royal  instructions  intended 
to  be  sent  to  the  governors  and  recommended  alterations 
where  changes  seemed  desirable;  to  it  colonial  governors 
made  regular  reports ;  it  recommended  to  the  Crown  suitable 
persons  for  appointment  as  governors  or  councilors;  made 
an  annual  report  of  the  condition  of  the  colonies;  and  ex- 
ercised general  supervision  over  colonial  administration. 

The  powers  of  the  royal  governors  were  embodied  in 
their  commissions  and  the  instructions  which  were  issued  to 
them  from  time  to  time,  or  were  drawn  by  implication  from 
the  vice-regal  character  of  the  governor's  position.  Besides 
the  powers  expressly  conferred  by  the  commission  or  letter 
of  instructions,  they  inherited  various  traditions  of  the  royal 
prerogative,  such,  for  example,  as  the  custom  of  approving 
the  choice  of  the  speaker  by  the  assembly,  which  was  not 
always  a  mere  formality  as  in  England,  administering  oaths 


THE     UNITED      STATES 

of  allegiance,  and  other  similar  functions.  As  the  military 
representative  of  the  king  the  governor  commanded  the  local 
militia,  conducted  campaigns  against  the  Indians,  con- 
structed fortifications,  declared  martial  law,  and,  as  vice- 
admiral,  had  the  right  to  grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal 
and  erect  admiralty  courts. 

The  power  of  the  Crown  in  matters  of  executive  clem- 
ency naturally  passed  to  his  representative  in  the  colonies, 
and  so  we  find  that  as  a  general  rule  the  governor  could 
grant  pardons  to  offenders,  except  in  cases  of  treason  or 
impeachment  and  sometimes  of  murder.  Included  under 
this  head  also  was  the  power  to  remit  fines  and  forfeitures. 
In  the  relations  of  the  colony  with  the  Indian  tribes,  as  well 
as  the  relation  of  one  colony  to  another,  the  governor  was 
the  representative  of  the  Crown.  In  the  domain  of  internal 
administration  a  source  of  great  power  was  the  right  to 
create  offices  and  appoint  their  incumbents.  In  Massachu- 
setts, however,  the  higher  administrative  officers  were  ap- 
pointed by  the  General  Court,  as  the  legislature  was  called, 
while  in  some  of  the  other  colonies  they  were  appointed 
directly  by  the  Crown.  But  in  all  the  colonies  the  governor 
appointed  the  local  judicial,  administrative  and  military 
officers. 

The  financial  powers  of  the  governor  were  large  at  first, 
but  steadily  decreased  with  the  growth  of  the  popular  as- 
sembly, which  took  away  from  him  important  powers  and 
reserved  them  for  itself.  Among  the  powers  of  the  governor 
under  the  head  of  legislation  were  those  of  summoning,  pro- 
roguing, adjourning  and  dissolving  the  legislature,  the  right 
to  recommend  measures  for  enactment  into  law,  and  some- 
times the  right  to  initiate  them  in  the  assembly.  In  case  of 
revenue  bills,  however,  the  governor  gradually  lost  the  right 
of  initiation  on  account  of  the  objection  raised  by  the  popu- 
lar assemblies.    The  home  government  usually  required  that 


GOVERNMENT    OF    COLONIES  209 

all  acts  passed  by  the  provincial  assemblies,  and  approved  by 
the  governor,  should  be  sent  to  England  within  three  months 
after  their  passage  for  approval  or  disallowance  by  the 
Crown,  although  in  Pennsylvania  the  period  was  five  years. 
If  not  expressly  disallowed,  they  were  to  be  enforced  as 
valid  laws.  The  governor  was  forbidden  to  approve  certain 
measures,  which  unduly  favored  the  interests  of  the  colony 
against  those  of  the  Crown.  The  requirement  that  laws  en- 
acted by  the  colonial  legislature  should  be  sent  home  for  ex- 
amination was  so  often  evaded  that  the  royal  restrictions 
upon  the  power  of  the  governor  to  give  his  assent  to  bills 
were  not  strictly  enforced.  Among  the  miscellaneous  powers 
of  the  governor  were  the  right  to  establish  ports,  markets, 
and  fairs,  grant  lands,  issue  charters  of  incorporation,  make 
appointments  to  certain  ecclesiastical  benefices,  grant  mar- 
riage licenses,  take  care  of  the  great  seal,  exercise  a  censor- 
ship over  the  press  and  oversee  the  Established  Church.6 
In  most  of  the  colonies  there  was  a  lieutenant  governor,  who 
discharged  the  duties  of  the  governor  during  his  absence 
from  the  colony. 

In  every  colony  there  was  a  council  which  acted  as  an 
advisory  body  to  the  governor,  sometimes  shared  the  exec- 
utive power  with  him,  usually  served  as  the  upper  house  of 
the  legislature  and  frequently  acted  as  the  highest  court  of 
appeal  in  the  colony.  There  was  a  long  list  of  acts  which 
could  not  be  performed  without  the  advice  and  consent  of 
the  council,  such  as  calling  the  legislature,  the  erection 
of  courts,  the  declaration  of  martial  law,  and  the  making 
of  appointments.  The  number  of  councilors  varied  from 
three  in  Maryland  to  twenty-eight  in  Massachusetts,  the 
usual  number  being  twelve.  In  the  royal  colonies  the  council 
was  appointed  by  the  governor,  sometimes  by  the  Crown. 

e  For   a  scholarly   discussion  of  the  powers   of  the   Colonial   Governor,   see 
Greene,  "  The  Provincial  Governor,"  pp.  91-165. 


210  THE    UNITED    STATES 

It  was  appointed  by  the  proprietary  on  the  nomination  of 
the  governor  in  the  proprietary  colonies,  and  in  Massachu- 
setts by  the  General  Court.  Where  the  executive  power 
was  vested  in  the  governor  and  council  jointly,  which  was 
not  infrequently  the  case,  there  were  often  bickerings  and 
clashes  of  authority  between  the  two.  The  governor  often 
showed  a  disposition  to  treat  the  council  merely  as  an  ad- 
visory restraining  body  rather  than  a  coordinate  and  equal 
authority,  a  procedure  which  the  council  strongly  resented. 
During  the  early  colonial  period  the  governor  claimed  and 
exercised  the  right  to  sit  with  the  council  when  it  was  serv- 
ing as  the  upper  house  of  the  legislature,  and  to  make 
motions  and  vote  as  other  members,  but  the  assembly  ob- 
jected and  the  right  was  gradually  lost  either  by  act  of  the 
Crown  or  by  act  of  the  legislature,  as  in  South  Carolina, 
where  the  presence  of  the  governor  during  the  debates  was 
declared  to  be  of  an  "  unparliamentary  nature,"  in  conse- 
quence of  which  the  House  refused  to  proceed  with  its  busi- 
ness until  he  withdrew. 

The  lower  house  of  the  legislature,  variously  called  the 
Assembly,  the  House  of  Delegates,  the  House  of  Commons, 
and  the  General  Court,  was  chosen  by  the  people,  but  the 
franchise  was  so  narrow  as  to  be  hardly  entitled  to  be  called 
popular  suffrage.  Besides  higher  property  qualifications, 
church  membership  or  other  religious  tests  were  frequently 
required.  In  structure  the  legislature  was  bicameral  in  every 
colony  except  Pennsylvania  and  Georgia,  where  the  single 
chambered  body  was  preferred,  but  soon  after  the  adoption 
of  the  Federal  Constitution  these  two  colonies  changed  to 
the  bicameral  form.  The  first  representative  assembly  in 
America  was  called  in  Virginia  in  1619  and  was  known  as 
the  House  of  Burgesses.  The  principle  of  representation 
was  soon  adopted  in  other  colonies,  as  possessing  distinct 
advantage  over  that  of  the  pure  democracy.    It  was  intro- 


GOVERNMENT    OF    COLONIES  211 

duced  in  Massachusetts  in  1634,  in  Maryland  in  1647,  and  in 
Georgia  in  1752. 

Between  the  governor,  who  represented  the  royal  inter- 
ests, and  the  legislative  assembly,  which  represented  the 
interests  of  the  people,  there  were  frequent  conflicts  of 
authority  which  led  to  important  constitutional  results  in 
the  relations  between  the  executive  and  the  legislature.  The 
governor,  as  the  agent  of  the  king,  was  anxious  to  see  that 
the  interests  of  the  Crown  were  advanced,  that  the  depend- 
ence of  the  colonies  upon  the  king  was  perpetuated,  and 
that,  in  short,  whatever  was  the  king's  due  should  be  forth- 
coming regardless  of  popular  interests.  But  it  was  utterly 
impossible  for  the  governor  to  protect  the  imperial  powers 
and  maintain  the  royal  prerogative  intact  without  encroach- 
ing upon  the  popular  interests,  as  they  came  to  be  under- 
stood by  the  colonists  themselves,  and  the  defense  of  these 
latter  interests  against  royal  encroachment  virtually  fell  to 
the  popularly  elected  legislative  assemblies.  In  the  contest 
which  ensued  they  had  the  main  advantage  as  a  result  of 
their  power  to  grant  or  withhold  supplies.  But  over  against 
this  was  the  power  of  the  governor  to  prorogue  or  dissolve 
a  refractory  assembly — a  power  which  was  frequently  re- 
sorted to,  but  seldom  with  effect.  The  governor's  depend- 
ence upon  the  assembly  for  his  salary  placed  him,  of  course, 
virtually  at  the  mercy  of  that  body. 

Very  early  in  the  history  of  the  American  colonies  the 
Crown  adopted  the  policy  of  throwing  the  burden  of  sup- 
porting the  royal  government  upon  the  colonies,  and  the 
legislatures  had  very  generally  persisted  in  making  the 
supply  grants  for  the  civil  list  annual  instead  of  permanent, 
as  the  Crown  urged  and  ordered,  for  they  realized  that  if 
the  governors  ceased  to  be  dependent  upon  the  legislature 
for  their  salaries  they  would  be  beyond  legislative  control. 
This  gave  the  assembly  an  effective  weapon  and  it  was  used 


212  THE    UNITED    STATES 

with  success.  Sometimes  the  legislature  would  refuse  to  con- 
sider appropriation  bills  for  the  payment  of  the  governor's 
salary  until  he  had  signed  certain  acts  which  had  been  passed 
and  which  the  assembly  wished  approved  by  that  executive. 
The  system  became  practically  one  of  bargain  and  sale,  the 
people  buying  from  the  governor  for  cash  such  laws  as  they 
needed.  The  custom  grew  up  in  some  colonies  of  present- 
ing the  governor  with  a  purse  of  a  thousand  dollars  or  more 
at  the  close  of  each  session,  providing  he  agreed  with  the 
assembly;  otherwise  it  was  withheld.7 

The  assembly  soon  found  other  means  of  limiting  the 
power  of  the  executive.  Thus,  in  making  appropriations  of 
money,  it  directed  the  purposes  for  which  the  money  should 
be  spent.  In  military  matters  this  enabled  the  assembly  to 
direct  in  a  large  measure  the  course  of  military  operations, 
leaving  the  governor  little  more  to  do  than  carry  out  its 
orders.  The  next  step  was  for  the  assembly  to  claim  the 
right  to  appoint  the  officers  who  were  charged  with  the  col- 
lection, custody,  and  disbursement  of  the  public  funds.  The 
right  of  the  assembly  in  this  matter  was  soon  established,  and 
thus  again  the  executive  prerogative  was  reduced.  In  the 
course  of  time  the  appointment  and  control  of  other  offices 
was  transferred  from  the  governor  to  the  legislature,  so  that 
by  the  time  of  the  Revolution  the  governor  retained  but  a 
shadow  of  his  former  great  appointing  power.  As  already 
stated,  the  governor  frequently  exercised  his  power  of  dis- 
solution to  prevent  refractory  assemblies  from  encroach- 
ing upon  his  prerogative,  but  it  was  usually  in  vain,  because 
he  could  not  administer  the  government  without  the  co- 
operation of  the  legislature,  and  a  new  one  was  not  likely  to 
be  more  subservient  than  the  one  dissolved.  The  result,  there- 
fore, of  the  long  struggle  between  the  legislature  and  the 
governor  for  power  was  the  triumph  of  the  former,  just  as 

7  Franklin's  Works,  Bigelow  edition,  vol.  iii.  pp.  311  et  seq. 


GOVERNMENT    OF    COLONIES 


213 


This  Indent J$ 

BILL  Jbatt  p*fiSjl$& 
cuTTcnt*  /or6* 

FovrShillikc 

«r4ingiot»t/Wt6/ 

tttral  JJitnl/j 
St      Com  tit  i 

an  J  Suflcr.  upo 


UrecaQk 
[Delaware,  /«^J 
/*♦  A'*^»  «/      ' 

AnjM ' 
[George 
|]|  Id.  Dated 
tbt  FtrfiDnjsf 

FOITRSHIL 


Indented  Bill  of  an  Early  Issue 

of  Paper  Currency  of  the 

Colony  of  Delaware 


the  somewhat  similar  struggle  between  king  and  Parliament 
in  England  had  resulted  in  the  victory  of  the  Parliament. 

The  colonial  judiciary  began  with  the  justice  of  the 
peace,  who  was  usually  appointed  by  the  governor  for  short 
terms  and  whose  jurisdiction 
included  the  trial  of  petty 
civil  cases.  Next  above  the 
justice  court  was  the  county 
court,  which  tried  more  im- 
portant civil  cases  and  minor 
criminal  cases,  and  which  fre- 
quently performed  various 
administrative  duties  relating 
to  highways,  care  of  the  poor, 
and  like  things.  The  crown  of 
the  judicial  system  was  a  su- 
preme court  to  hear  cases  of 
appeal  and  exercise  original 
jurisdiction  in  certain  cases; 

but    appeals    Were    allowed    to  Original  in  the  Lenox  Library 

be  taken  to  the  Privy  Council  of  England.  The  erection  of 
courts  of  justice  was  usually  one  of  the  prerogatives  of  the 
governor,  as  was  also  the  appointment  of  the  judges.  In 
many  of  the  colonies  the  terms  of  the  judges  were  fixed  at 
good  behavior;  but  the  Crown  came  to  discourage  this  prac- 
tice and  ultimately  to  forbid  it  for  the  reason  that  life  terms 
made  the  judges  too  independent  of  the  Crown.  The  king, 
therefore,  gave  instructions  to  the  governors  that  judicial 
commissions  be  granted  "during  pleasure"  only,  and  in 
1761  notified  them  that  a  violation  of  this  instruction  would 
be  a  cause  for  removal.  Likewise  the  assemblies  insisted  on 
paying  the  judges'  salaries  by  annual  grants  as  a  future 
means  of  controlling  them.  If  the  Crown  both  appointed 
the  judges  and  allowed  them  permanent  salaries,  the  sub- 


214  THE    UNITED    STATES 

serviency  of  the  judiciary  to  the  Crown  would  be  established 
and  the  decisions  would  all  be  Crown  decisions. 

The  colonies  were  of  course  unrepresented  in  the  im- 
perial Parliament,  and  it  was  this  fact  that  subsequently 
led  them  to  protest  when  the  mother  country  undertook  to 
impose  taxes  upon  them.  They  bore,  however,  the  expense 
of  local  administration,  and  sometimes  upon  the  request  of 
the  Crown  made  voluntary  grants  for  imperial  purposes. 
In  matters  of  interest  to  the  empire,  Parliament  legislated 
directly  for  the  colonies;  but  unless  expressly  mentioned  in 
the  act  no  parliamentary  statute  applied  to  them.  Never- 
theless, they  were  supposed  to  enjoy  all  the  rights  of  natural- 
born  Englishmen.  Being  without  representation  in  Parlia- 
ment, the  colonies  adopted  the  practice  of  maintaining  resi- 
dent agents  in  England  to  look  after  their  political  and 
commercial  interests.  Just  before  the  Revolution,  when  the 
controversy  between  the  colonies  and  the  mother  country 
was  ripening,  the  duties  of  these  agents  became  very  im- 
portant and  they  gradually  acquired  a  quasi  diplomatic  char- 
acter. They  were  sometimes  called  upon  to  give  testi- 
mony before  Parliamentary  committees  and  frequently 
appeared  before  the  Board  of  Trade  in  the  interests  of  the 
colonies.  Not  infrequently  several  colonies  employed  the 
same  agent  to  represent  them  at  London.  Thus  Benjamin 
Franklin  acted  in  this  capacity  for  Massachusetts,  Pennsyl- 
vania, North  Carolina,  and  several  other  colonies  at  the  same 
time. 

The  system  of  local  government  in  the  colonies  possessed 
less  uniformity  than  did  the  central  governments.  There 
were,  in  fact,  three  general  types  of  local  government, 
namely,  that  which  prevailed  in  New  England,  that  of  the 
middle  colonies  and  that  of  the  southern  colonies.  In 
New  England  the  town  with  its  unpretentious  church  and 
schoolhouse  was  the  unit  of  local  government,  and  was  rep- 


GOVERNMENT    OF    COLONIES  215 

resented  in  the  legislature.  Instead  of  electing  represent- 
atives to  lay  their  taxes,  enact  local  regulations  and  attend 
to  various  other  matters  relating  to  religion,  care  of  high- 
ways, the  poor,  and  the  like,  the  people  themselves  assembled 
in  town-meeting  and  enacted  their  own  local  laws  and  voted 
taxes.  The  local  government  of  New  England  was  in  other 
words  a  pure  democracy.  Originally  all  male  inhabitants  of 
legal  age  were  allowed  to  participate  in  its  deliberations. 
The  town-meeting,  summoned  by  the  constable  under  au- 
thority of  the  selectmen's  warrant,  was  usually  held  in  the 
church  or  "meeting-house,"  and  non-attendance  was  pun- 
ished by  a  fine.  The  frequency  with  which  meetings  were 
held  must  have  involved  a  serious  encroachment  upon  the 
ordinary  business  of  the  community.8  The  meeting,  once 
assembled,  was  organized  by  the  election  of  a  moderator  or 
presiding  officer,  the  town  clerk  always  as  ex-officio  secretary. 
No  one  could  speak  without  the  permission  of  the  moderator, 
and  fines  were  imposed  for  disorderly  conduct.  The  prin- 
cipal officers  elected  at  the  meeting  were  the  selectmen,  the 
number  varying  from  three  to  nine,  who  looked  after  the 
enforcement  of  local  regulations  and  the  general  super- 
vision of  the  poor  of  the  town.  Other  officers  were  the  town 
clerk,  assessors,  treasurer,  constables,  school-committees, 
overseers  of  the  poor,  fence-viewers,  pound-keepers,  field- 
drivers,  sealers  of  weights  and  measures,  and  surveyors. 
In  addition  to  this  rather  imposing  list  of  officials  there  were 
various  other  functionaries  in  some  of  the  New  England 
towns,  such  as  inspectors  of  hides,  fish  and  brick,  measurers 
of  various  articles,  preservers  of  deer,  deer-reeves,  wood- 
corders,  rebukers  of  boys,  swine-yokers,  and  ringers,  over- 
seers of  chimneys,  persons  to  keep  dogs  out  of  church, 
branders  of  cattle,  and  even  town  fishers,  town  grubbers,  and 

s  See  Howard,  "Local  Constitutional  History  of  the  United  States,"  p.  62; 
McKinley,  "  The  Suffrage  Franchise  in  the  English  Colonies,"  p.  361. 


216  THE    UNITED    STATES 

town  doctors.  Boston,  in  1690-1691,  had  ten  constables,  seven 
surveyors  of  highways,  four  clerks  of  the  market,  four 
sealers  of  leather,  six  hog  reeves,  three  criers,  sixteen  wood- 
corders,  eight  overseers  of  wood-corders,  four  overseers  of 
chimneys,  and  thirty-six  tithingmen.9  The  county  in  New 
England  as  a  political  unit  played  an  insignificant  role,  and 
that  is  true  to-day,  local  government  being  carried  on  mainly 
through  the  agency  of  town-meeting,  while  the  county  sur- 
vives rather  as  a  judicial  and  elective  district.10 

The  southern  colonies  differed  from  those  of  New 
England  quite  as  much  in  their  local  polity  as  in  their  social 
and  economic  life.  Here  the  pure  democracy  of  New  Eng- 
land never  gained  a  foothold ;  it  was  in  fact  impracticable,  if 
not  impossible.  Instead  of  populous,  compact  towns,  as 
in  New  England,  there  were  large  plantations  scattered 
throughout  the  colony  and  cultivated  mainly  by  slave  labor. 
This,  with  other  causes,  both  economic  and  social,  interfered 
with  the  natural  growth  of  towns  and  villages,  and  conse-. 
quently  made  necessary  a  more  representative  type  of  local, 
government  than  that  which  prevailed  in  New  England.- 
Instead  of  the  town,  therefore,  the  parish  became  the  unit, 
of  local  government.  The  governing  body  of  the  parish  was 
the  vestry,  composed  of  twelve  men,  at  first  popularly  elected, 
but  eventually  becoming  a  close  corporation  with  power  to 
fill  its  own  vacancies.11  It  appointed  the  local  administrative 
officers,  the  principal  of  which  were  the  two  churchwardens, 
and  levied  the  taxes,  but  was  not,  as  in  New  England,  the 
unit  of  representation  in  the  legislature,  that  unit  being  the 
county.  About  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  most 
of  the  secular  duties  of  the  vestry  in  Virginia  were  taken 
over  by  the  county  court,  leaving  the  vestry  merely  ecclesi- 

»  Howard,  "  Local  Constitutional  History  of  the  United  States,"  p.  99. 

10  Goodnow,  "  Comparative  Administrative  Law,"  vol.  ii.  ch.  ii. 

11  Howard,  "Local  Constitutional  History  of  the  LTnited  States,"  p.  119. 


GOVERNMENT    OF    COLONIES 


217 


astical.  At  the  head  of  the  county  was  a  lieutenant  who 
corresponded  in  a  rough  way  to  the  Lord  Lieutenant  of 
England,  was  a  sort  of  deputy  to  the  governor  and  bore  the 
honorary  title  of  "  Colonel."  He  was  the  commander  of  the 
county  militia,  and  as  a  member  of  the  governor's  council 
exercised  other  important  non-military  duties.  The  chief 
civil  officer  of  the  county  was  the  sheriff,  who  was  appointed 
by  the  governor  upon  the  nomination  of  the  county  justices. 
He  was  collector  of  the  taxes,  acted  as  treasurer,  executed 
the  judgments  of  the  courts,  g*%N 
and  performed  many  other  im-  I  5*% 
portant  duties.  Other  local  offi- 
cers   were    the    justices    of   the     «■&*  SMKmc, CNp,Ztf^? 

*1  •      «  •  1  ..1  .uifa  fjrtbin&i>ei  diem  (nc* 

peace,  usually  eight  in  number, 
for  each  county,  who,  like  the 
English  justices,  were  probably 
the  most  important  of  all  the 
local  officials.  They  were  not 
only  judicial  magistrates,  but 
administrators  as  well.  In  the 
former  capacity  they  held 
courts  usually  four  times  a  year, 
after  the  manner  of  the  English 
quarter  sessions,  while  in  the  lat- 
ter capacity  they  levied  the 
county  taxes,  passed  local  regu- 
lations and  acted  as  the  general 
administrative  authority  of  the 
county  in  the  management  of  a 
great  variety  of  interests,  such  as  the  care  of  highways,  the 
repairing  of  bridges,  and  the  appointment  of  officers.  The 
justices  were  appointed  by  the  governor  and  held  office  dur- 
ing his  pleasure.  The  Virginia  system  of  local  government 
was  of  course  wholly  undemocratic,  quite  as  much  so  as  the 


ifjrtbm&i 

THis  Indented'Bitl  of  Fifty  Shil- 
ling, due  from  the  Colony 
of  New-York,tothePofstf>oi  there- 
of (hall  be  in  value  equal  to  Money, 
St  fliall  be  accordingly  accepted  by 
the  Treafurer  ot  this  Colony,  foi  the * 
time  being,  in  all  publick  Payment*, 
ind  for  any  Fund  at  any  time  in  the 
Treafury.  Dated,  New-York,  the  ifi 
of  November,  1 709.  by  order  of  the 
Lieut.  Governor,  council  &  General 
Afsembly  of  the  faid  Colony^ 


Indented  Bill  of  an  Early  Issue 
of    Paper    Currency   of   the 

Colony  of  New  York 
Original  in  the  Lenox  Library 


218  THE    UNITED    STATES 

Virginia  social  order.  In  the  other  southern  colonies  there 
were  variations  from  the  Virginia  type,  but  the  broad 
outlines  were  the  same. 

In  the  middle  colonies  the  system  of  local  government 
was  in  the  nature  of  a  compromise  between  the  New  England 
town  meeting  and  the  southern  county  commission.  Here 
the  county  was  neither  the  supreme  local  unit,  as  in  the  south, 
nor  a  mere  survival  as  in  New  England.  In  New  York  the 
county  was  divided  into  townships,  each  of  which  elected  a 
supervisor  to  represent  it  on  the  county  board  of  super- 
visors, which  authority  was  charged  with  the  general  man- 
agement of  the  affairs  of  the  county. 

The  townships,  however,  did  not  lose  their  individuality 
as  local  units  of  government.  For  a  time  purely  township 
affairs  were  even  regulated  by  a  town  meeting,  but  rather 
rudimentary  in  form,  as  compared  with  that  of  New  Eng- 
land. In  Pennsylvania  the  form  of  local  government  was 
very  similar  to  that  of  New  York;  that  is,  it  was  adminis- 
trated by  a  county  board  of  commissioners.  Here,  how- 
ever, the  commissioners  were  chosen  from  the  county  at  large 
and  did  not  therefore  represent  a  particular  township.  But 
each  township  had  its  own  local  government  and  cared  for 
such  matters  as  local  police,  the  assessment  and  collection  of 
taxes,  the  maintenance  and  repairs  of  highways,  and  the  like. 
The  system  of  local  government  in  the  middle  colonies  was 
more  democratic  than  that  of  the  south,  yet  it  did  not  go  to 
the  other  extreme  of  the  New  England  pure  democracy.  It 
was  well  adapted  to  secure  efficiency  and  local  autonomy  and 
has  come  to  be  adopted  in  the  great  majority  of  the  States  of 
the  Union. 


Chapter    VI 
COLONIAL    LIFE    AND    INSTITUTIONS 

I 

POPULATION,,  RACES  AND  CLASSES 

AT  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  total 
L^L  population  of  the  thirteen  colonies  was  estimated 
JL  jL  by  DeBow  at  262,000.  At  the  outbreak  of  the 
Revolution  it  was  between  2,000,000  and  2,500,000  inhabi- 
tants, of  whom  not  less  than  400,000  were  African  slaves.1 
It  ranged  from  about  8,000  in  Georgia  to  over  300,000  in 
Virginia;  Massachusetts  and  Pennsylvania  being  next  to 
Virginia  the  most  popular  States.  English  was  everywhere 
the  dominant  race,  although  there  was  a  large  Dutch  element 
in  New  York.  There  was  a  sprinkling  of  Dutch,  Swedes 
and  Germans  in  New  Jersey  and  Delaware,  many  Germans 
and  some  Welsh,  Dutch  and  Irish  in  Pennsylvania,  as  well 
as  a  large  element  of  Scotch-Irish.  Pennsylvania  became 
the  distributing  center  for  Germans  and  Scotch- Irish. 
From  her  borders  streams  of  emigrants  flowed  south  and 
southwest  down  the  valleys  of  the  Alleghenies  into  Western 
Maryland,  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas,  and  over  the  moun- 
tains into  the  country  afterwards  erected  into  the  States  of 

i  Bancroft's  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  vi.  p.  390.  The  estimate 
of  the  Board  of  Trade  was  somewhat  larger  than  that  of  Bancroft.  An  estimate 
of  the  white  population  made  in  1783  for  the  purpose  of  assessment  placed  the 
number  at  2,389,300.  No  census  was  taken  until  1790,  at  which  time  the  popula- 
tion was  found  to  be  3,900,000.  The  least  populous  State,  according  to  the  census 
of  1790,  was  Delaware,  with  59,094  inhabitants,  and  the  most  populous  was  Vir- 
ginia, with  747,600. 

219 


220  THE     UNITED      STATES 

Kentucky  and  Tennessee.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution 
the  Germans  constituted  about  one-third  of  the  population 
of  Pennsylvania,  or  a  total  of  about  100,000.  Indeed,  the 
German  immigrants  were  so  numerous  that  the  English 
authorities  felt  alarmed  for  the  safety  of  the  colony.  As  a 
whole  they  were  an  honest,  industrious,  religious  people,  so 
conservative  and  tenacious  of  their  customs  and  language 
that  whole  communities  of  their  descendants  to-day  speak  a 
dialect  commonly  known  as  Pennsylvania  Dutch. 

The  Scotch-Irish  element  consisted  mainly  of  Scotch 
Presbyterians  from  Ulster,  Ireland.  Here  their  ancestors 
had  made  their  home  for  generations,  but  driven  by  English 
oppression  and  religious  persecutions,  they  began  to  flock 
to  America  about  the  opening  of  the  eighteenth  century.  It 
is  estimated  that  before  the  Revolution  half  the  Presbyterian 
population  of  Ulster  had  emigrated  to  America.  Some  went 
to  New  England,  some  to  Virginia;  but  by  far  the  greater 
part  settled  in  Pennsylvania,  and  from  there  spread  south- 
ward into  the  Carolinas,  Georgia,  Kentucky  and  Tennessee. 
By  the  time  of  the  Revolution  the  Scotch-Irish  constituted 
about  one-sixth  of  the  total  population,  and  their  descend- 
ants have  played  an  important  part  in  the  history  of  the 
country.  There  were  many  French  Huguenots  in  New 
York,  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia,  and  some  of  them  in 
almost  every  colony.  They  were  an  industrious,  thrifty 
people,  who  came  over  in  large  numbers  after  the  re- 
vocation of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  in  1685,  and  a  number  of 
their  descendants  occupied  prominent  stations  during  the 
Revolution.  Except  for  some  Scotch-Irish  in  New  Hamp- 
shire and  some  Huguenots  in  Massachusetts  and  Rhode 
Island,  New  England  was  purely  English.2  There  were  some 
small  groups  of  Jews,  Finns,  Salzburgers  and  Moravians  in 

2  Read    Greene,    "  Immigration    and    Expansion,"    in    "  Provincial    America,'* 
ch.  xiv. 


COLONIAL    LIFE  221 

various  parts  of  the  country,  but  so  inconsiderable  in  num- 
ber as  to  be  without  effect  upon  the  general  character  of  the 
population. 

The  population  at  this  time  was  mainly  rural,  and 
in  the  south  wholly  so.  The  largest  city  probably  in 
America  was  Philadelphia,  which  in  1760  had  a  population  of 
25,000.  Boston  had  about  the  same  number  and  New  York 
some  15,000  to  18,000.  Boston  and  Philadelphia  were  then 
among  the  largest  towns  outside  of  London  in  the  king's  do- 
minions, ranking  with  Bristol  and  Liverpool.  In  1790  only 
about  three  persons  in  a  hundred  lived  in  cities  having  a 
population  exceeding  5,000 ; 3  now  the  proportion  is  about 
thirty-five  out  of  one  hundred ;  from  half  a  dozen  cities  with 
populations  exceeding  8,000  each  we  have  grown  to  be  a 
country  having  not  less  than  5&5  such  cities.4 

In  addition  to  the  white  inhabitants  every  colony  had  a 
more  or  less  considerable  negro  population,  practically  all  of 
which  at  this  time  was  held  in  slavery.  By  far  the  greater 
number  of  blacks,  however,  were  in  the  southern  colonies, 
where  they  were  well  adapted  to  the  warm  climate,  and  where 
slave  labor  was  profitable,  if  not  indispensible,  to  the  culti- 
vation of  the  great  tobacco,  rice  and  indigo  plantations. 
Here  the  institution  of  slavery  throve  and  grew  until  by  the 
invention  of  Eli  Whitney  it  became  an  important  factor  in 
the  southern  economic  system. 

In  the  colonies  of  the  north  the  number  of  slaves  was 
comparatively  small  and  they  were  held  mainly  as  house 
servants.  Neither  the  climate  nor  the  industries  of  this 
region  were  favorable  to  negro  slavery,  and  so,  after 
1750,  the  number  rather  declined  than  increased.  Some  of 
the  colonies  had  very  early  foreseen  the  evils  of  a  large  slave 
population  and  had  undertaken  to  restrict  the  importation 

3  Webber,  "Growth  of  Cities,"  p.  23. 
*  See  "Census  Bulletin,"  1900,  No.  4. 


%£% 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


of  negroes  from  Africa;  but  these  attempts  were  vetoed  by 
the  Crown  on  the  ground  that  it  interfered  with  a  lucrative 
trade  in  which  the  Crown  was  pecuniarily  interested  as  a 


Copyright,  1905,  by  John  D.  Morris  &  Company 

Eli  Whitney  in  1821,  Aged  Fifty-five 
Painting  by  C.  B.  King 

stockholder  of  the  Royal  African  Company,  which  had  a 
monopoly  of  supplying  the  American  colonies  with  slaves. 
Colonial  governors  were  charged  with  furthering  the  in- 
terests of  the  company,  and  by  1695  the  traffic  in  negroes  was 
considered  the  best  and  most  profitable  branch  of  British 
commerce.5     It  is  stated  upon  the  authority  of  a  careful  in- 

5Weeden,  "Social  and  Economic  History  of  New  England,"  vol.  ii.  p.  451. 


COLONIAL    LIFE 

vestigator  that  in  the  twenty  years  from  1713  to  1733  not 
less  than  15,000  slaves  were  annually  imported  into  America 
by  the  English,  of  whom  from  one-third  to  one-half  went  to 
North  American  colonies.  From  1680  to  1688  the  African 
Company  sent  249  ships  to  Africa  and  carried  away  to 
America  46,396  slaves  after  losing  over  14,000  in  the  middle 
passage.6 

It  was  not  until  after  the  achievement  of  independence 
that  the  colonies  were  free  to  adopt  restrictive  measures 
against  this  abominable  traffic.  In  New  England,  where 
general  conditions  were  unfavorable  to  the  growth  of 
slavery,  the  number  of  slaves  was  inconsiderable,  and  being 
employed  mainly  as  domestic  servants  they  were  not  as  a  rule 
harshly  treated  and  were  generally  instructed  in  the  art  of 
reading.  After  the  slave  population  became  relatively  large 
as  compared  with  the  white  population,  the  colonial  assem- 
blies began  to  pass  drastic  police  regulations  intended  to  se- 
cure the  obedience  and  good  behavior  of  the  blacks  and  to 
prevent  servile  insurrection.  The  fear  of  slave  outbreaks 
was  never  absent  from  the  mind  of  the  white  man,  and,  in- 
deed, the  fear  was  not  without  foundation,  for  as  early  as 
1687  an  uprising  of  rebellious  blacks  occurred  in  northern 
Virginia,  creating  great  terror  and  alarm  among  the  whites. 
The  slave  code  in  consequence  was  made  especially  severe  in 
Virginia  and  South  Carolina,  where  the  black  population 
was  large;  but  such  laws,  barbarous  as  they  may  seem  to 
us  now,  were  not  condemned  by  the  public  sentiment  of 
the  day. 

At  law  the  slave  was  a  mere  chattel  like  any  other  per- 
sonal property,  and  could  be  sold,  hired  or  otherwise  disposed 
of  at  the  pleasure  of  his  master.  He  could  not  leave  the 
plantation  without  a  permit,  under  penalty  of  a  certain  num- 
ber of  lashes,  nor  was  he  allowed  to  carry  arms,  keep  dogs  or 

«  DuBois,  "  Suppression  of  the  African  Slave  Trade,"  p.  5. 


224  THE    UNITED    STATES 

own  property  of  consequence.  Except  in  rare  instances  he 
was  never  taught  to  read  or  write;  indeed  the  teaching  of 
slaves  was  generally  forbidden  by  law.  It  was  the  undoubted 
right  of  the  owner  to  punish  his  slave  for  disobedience, 
and  in  case  of  resistance  he  might  take  his  life,  for  ordina- 
rily there  could  be  no  "  malice  aforethought  "  in  destroying 
one's  own  property.  However,  the  willful  killing  of  a  slave 
was  treated  as  murder,  in  the  criminal  codes,  but  it  was  not 
always  easy  to  convict  in  such  a  case,  because  a  white 
jury  was  loath  to  return  a  verdict  of  guilty  against  a  white 
offender.  Slave  testimony  was  of  course  not  accepted  in  the 
courts,  if  either  party  was  a  white  man. 

Despite  the  severity  of  the  slave  code,  the  unfortu- 
nate blacks  were  fed  and  clothed,  their  health  and  com- 
fort cared  for;  everywhere  they  were  allowed  to  own 
gardens  and  poultry,  and  probably,  except  on  the  large 
plantations,  they  were  not  overworked.  Their  condition 
was  much  better  than  in  Africa,  and  we  have  reason 
to  believe  that  they  were  happy  and  contented.  While 
there  was  a  strong  sentiment  against  the  slave  trade,  our  fore- 
fathers could  see  little  wrong  in  holding  the  ignorant  African 
in  slavery.  It  rather  seemed  to  them  to  be  a  blessing  to  the 
slave  that  he  should  be  cared  for  and  supported  by  the  white 
man,  and  given  the  advantages  of  a  Christian  civilization. 
Shiftless  and  improvident,  his  own  welfare  required  the 
stimulus  and  the  incentive  of  the  superior  race.  Contrary 
to  this  view,  however,  was  the  sentiment  entertained  by  the 
Pennsylvania  Quakers,  or  Friends,  as  they  preferred  to  be 
called,  who,  before  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century,  had 
started  an  agitation  against  slavery  on  moral  grounds.7  Two 
of  their  foremost  anti-slavery  agitators  were  Woolman  and 
Benezet,  who  by  their  speeches  and  writings  aroused  among 
the  Friends  a  strong  sentiment  against  slavery  and  led  many 

7  See  Hart,  "  Contemporaries,"  vol.  ii.  p.  291. 


COLONIAL    LIFE  225 

of  them  to  set  their  negroes  free.8  After  the  Revolution  the 
Quaker  hostility  to  slavery  became  more  general  and  they 
were  the  first  people  to  petition  Congress  for  the  enactment 
of  legislation  to  restrict  the  spread  of  the  institution.  In 
Massachusetts  an  anti-slavery  sentiment  slowly  grew  up,  the 
first  anti-slavery  advocate  of  that  colony  being  the  able  and 
well  known  Judge  Samuel  Sewall,  who  as  early  as  the  year 
1700  published  a  pamphlet  attacking  the  institution  of 
slavery  as  inconsistent  with  the  teachings  of  the  Bible,  as 
well  as  contrary  to  the  principles  of  economic  expediency.9 
Next  above  the  slave  in  the  ascending  social  scale  was 
the  class  of  indented  white  servants,  so  called  from  a  written 
instrument  called  an  indenture  which  defined  their  obliga- 
tions to  their  masters.  Superior  to  the  slaves  in  race,  they 
were  nevertheless  an  inferior  class,  consisting  often  of  con- 
victed criminals  transported  to  America  by  the  mother  coun- 
try and  dumped  upon  the  colonists,  or  of  voluntary  emi- 
grants representing  the  idle  and  worthless  from  the  larger 
English  cities.10  Others  were  of  shiftless,  impoverished 
characters  who  sold  themselves  into  servitude  for  a  term  of 
years,  sometimes  as  a  means  of  paying  the  cost  of  their  pas- 
sage across  the  Atlantic.  Still  others  consisted  of  children 
kidnaped  from  the  streets  of  London  or  sold  by  inhuman 
parents.  Their  legal  and  social  status  was  but  little  better 
than  that  of  the  slaves.  Strict  laws  were  enacted  by  the 
colonial  assemblies  to  hold  them  in  servitude,  and  they  were 
subjected  to  the  same  degrading  punishments.  They  were 
frequently  illiterate,  degraded,  worthless,  often  despised 
even  by  the  negroes.     They  were  especially  numerous  in 

8  Bancroft,  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  ii.  p.  398. 

9  Weeden,  "  Economic  and  Social  History  of  New  England,"  vol.  i.  p.  429. 

io  "  American  Historical  Review,"  vol.  ii.  p.  12.  Some  writers  have  estimated 
the  number  of  convicted  criminals  sent  to  the  colonies  by  the  British  Government 
at  from  ten  thousand  to  twenty-five  thousand,  most  of  them  being  sent  to  Mary- 
land and  the  middle  colonies.    See  Scharf,  "  History  of  Maryland,"  vol.  i.  p.  371. 


226  THE    UNITED    STATES 

Pennsylvania  and  Virginia,  and  in  the  latter  colony  exerted  a 
deteriorating  influence.  They  were,  it  is  said,  the  source  of 
that  class  of  Southern  society  known  later  as  "  poor  white 
trash." 

Next  in  the  ascending  social  scale  were  the  merchants, 
traders,  shopkeepers  and  small  farmers,  who  constituted,  es- 
pecially in  the  New  England  colonies,  the  substantial  ele- 
ment of  the  population.  They  were  of  good  English  stock, 
were  socially  respected,  and  from  their  ranks  a  great  leader 
occasionally  rose  by  dint  of  genius  and  character.  In  some 
of  the  southern  colonies,  notably  Virginia  and  South  Caro- 
lina, this  middle  class  hardly  existed  as  a  distinct  group. 
Here  there  were  only  two  well-defined  classes,  namely,  large 
plantation  owners  and  slaves. 

Finally,  at  the  top  of  the  social  pyramid  was  the  aristo- 
cratic class,  which  in  all  the  colonies  was  well  differentiated 
from  the  lower  classes.  In  New  England  this  class  consisted 
of  the  clergy,  the  magistrates,  the  professional  men  and 
those  who  were  "  well  born."  Here  the  aristocracy  was  more 
largely  official  than  elsewhere,  and  was  based  on  educa- 
tion and  birth  rather  than  on  wealth.  Although  politically 
New  England  was  the  home  of  democracy,  socially  class  dis- 
tinctions were  very  sharp,  and  matters  of  social  precedence 
were  much  more  important  than  now.  Until  late  in  the 
eighteenth  century  the  people  were  carefully  seated  in  the 
churches  according  to  social  standing,  while  the  names  of 
Harvard  students  were  arranged  in  the  catalogue  according 
to  a  similar  method.11  While  substantially  all  the  offices  were 
open  to  the  middle  classes,  the  more  important  ones  were 
reserved  for  the  aristocrats  of  education,  good  birth  and  dis- 
tinguished ancestry. 

In  the  southern  colonies  the  upper  class  consisted  of  the 

!i  Weeden,   "  Economic  and   Social   History  of  New   England,"   vol.  i.   pp. 
280,  289,  417. 


COLONIAL   LIFE  227 

wealthy  planters  and  large  land  holders.  They  occupied 
much  the  same  position  as  the  landed  gentry  in  England;  in- 
deed, the  Virginia  planter  had  much  in  common,  as  regards 
his  dress,  manners  and  habits,  with  the  English  landlord. 
Surrounded  by  their  slaves  they  lived  like  lords,  on  great 
plantations  which  sometimes  extended  for  miles  along  the 
river  banks.  Not  infrequently  Virginia  planters  had  their 
own  wharfs,  at  which  vessels  from  the  Old  World  arrived  and 
departed  at  irregular  intervals.  They  were  of  the  best  Eng- 
lish stock  and  possessed  the  virtues  as  well  as  the  faults  com- 
mon to  landed  aristocracies.  With  a  high  sense  of  honor, 
chivalrous,  hospitable  and  proud,  they  held  the  chief 
offices  of  state,  and  in  the  struggle  for  independence 
furnished  a  large  number  of  able  leaders  to  the  patri- 
otic cause.  It  was  from  this  aristocracy  that  the  new 
Republic  drew  four  of  its  first  five  Presidents,  and  a  good 
many  of  its  other  leading  statesmen  and  diplomats. 

In  the  middle  colonies,  as  in  New  England  and  the 
southern  colonies,  the  differentiation  of  society  into  classes 
was  clearly  marked.  In  New  York  the  existence  of  the  pa- 
troon  system  gave  society  something  of  a  feudal  cast.  The 
patroons  owned  vast  estates  along  the  Hudson  and  lived  af- 
ter the  manner  of  feudal  barons  in  spacious  mansions  built 
of  imported  brick  or  stone,  and  handsomely  decorated  and 
furnished.  Notable  families  of  this  class  were  the  Van 
Rensselaers,  the  Van  Cortlandts,  the  Livingstons  and  the 
Schuylers,  all  prominent  leaders  in  political  and  social  af- 
fairs of  the  colony.  Their  estates  were  cultivated  by 
tenants,  who  looked  to  the  patroon  for  protection  and  jus- 
tice and  who  paid  him  rent  at  stated  periods,  patronized  his 
grist  mill  and  wine  press  and  performed  various  semi- feudal 
services.  The  proprietor  regularly  held  manorial  courts  and 
at  stated  intervals  gave  his  tenants  a  great  feast  at  the  man- 
sion.    The  most  famous  of  these  estates  was  that  of  Stephen 


228  THE    UNITED    STATES 

Van  Rensselaer,  who  owned  600,000  acres  of  land  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Albany.12 

Below  the  aristocratic  class  in  New  York  were  the  small 
land  owners  and  tradesmen,  a  thrifty  and  well-to-do  element 
of  both  Dutch  and  English  stock.  Then  there  were  some 
20,000  slaves,  largely  a  remnant  of  Dutch  occupation,  and 
comprising  about  one-sixth  of  the  population.  Their  status 
was  substantially  the  same  as  the  slaves  in  the  southern 
colonies,  except  that  possibly  they  were  accorded  more  hu- 
mane treatment  than  that  given  on  the  larger  plantations. 
A  threatened  slave  insurrection  in  New  York  city  in  1711 
led  to  a  massacre  by  the  whites  of  nineteen  negroes,  and 
again,  in  1741,  in  consequence  of  what  was  known  as  the 
"  Negro  Plot  "  to  burn  the  city,  a  number  of  the  blacks  were 
seized  and  twenty-one  of  them  were  put  to  death,  after  trial, 
some  by  hanging,  others  by  burning,  and  still  others  by 
breaking  on  the  wheel.13 

In  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey  and  Delaware  class  dis- 
tinctions were  less  sharply  drawn  than  in  either  New  York, 
New  England  or  in  the  southern  colonies.  So  far  as  there 
was  an  aristocratic  class  in  Pennsylvania  and  Delaware  it 
was  made  up  of  the  descendants  of  Penn's  principal  fol- 
lowers and  of  the  landed  gentry ;  but  it  was  not  homogeneous 
and  compact,  nor  was  it  separated  from  the  middle  class  by 
the  same  impassible  barriers  which  existed  elsewhere.14 

The  distinctive  feature  of  Pennsylvania  society  was  the 
presence  of  the  Quaker  element,  with  their  quaint  habits  of 
dress  and  peculiar  customs.  Racially  and  religiously  there 
was  unusual  diversity.  Besides  English,  there  were  Ger- 
mans and  Irish  in  large  numbers,  Scotch- Irish,  Welsh  and 
Swedes,  while  Lutherans,  Presbyterians,  Dunkards,  Dutch 

12  Fiske,  "  Dutch  and  Quaker  Colonies,"  vol.  i.  pp.  265-269. 
is  Lodge,  "  Short  History  of  the  English  Colonies,"  p.  322. 
14  Ibid.,  p.  240. 


COLONIAL    LIFE  229 

Calvinists,  Moravians,  Baptists  and  Roman  Catholics  were 
some  of  the  religious  sects  which  played  an  important  part  in 
the  life  of  the  colony.15  Naturally  there  was  friction  and 
some  strife  where  so  much  racial  and  religious  diversity 
existed.  The  Germans  and  Scotch-Irish  could  not  live  to- 
gether in  the  same  community,  nor  were  the  Quakers  and 
Scotch-Irish  ever  on  good  terms  in  political  matters.  Slaves 
there  were  in  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey  and  Delaware,  but 
their  number  was  not  large,  probably  not  exceeding  one- 
fourth  of  the  entire  population,16  and  the  practice  of  slave- 
holding  was  discountenanced  by  the  unwavering  hostility  of 
the  Quakers.  Much  more  numerous  was  the  class  of  in- 
dented servants,  which  consisted  mainly  of  Irish  and  German 
redemptioners,  who  sold  themselves  to  pay  their  passage,  or 
of  transported  convicts. 


II 

INDUSTRIES.,   OCCUPATIONS   AND    PROFESSIONS 

The  occupations  and  professions  of  the  colonists  were 
much  more  lacking  in  variety  than  at  the  present  day.  The 
most  general  of  the  occupations  was  agriculture.  At  first 
the  chief  industry  in  the  New  England  colonies,  it  gradually 
declined  in  relative  importance  on  account  of  the  inadapta- 
bility of  the  soil  and  climate.  Here  the  soil  was  rugged  and 
barren,  while  the  seasons  were  too  short  to  grow  the  great 
staples  that  were  raised  with  profit  in  the  more  southerly 
latitudes.  Nevertheless,  grain  was  raised  in  considerable 
quantities  for  export,  mainly  to  Europe  and  the  West  In- 
dies. Stock-raising  was  also  an  important  industry  and 
large  quantities  of  cattle  were  likewise  exported  to  the  West 

is  Read  Fiske,  "  Dutch  and  Quaker  Colonies,*  vol.  ii.  ch.  xvii. 
is  Bancroft,  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  ii.  p.  391. 


230  THE    UNITED    STATES 

Indies.  Of  scarcely  less  value  was  the  trade  in  furs  and  pel- 
tries with  the  Indians.  As  the  unsuitability  of  the  coun- 
try for  agriculture  became  more  and  more  apparent,  the  peo- 
ple turned  their  attention  to  manufacturing  and  maritime 
industries.  At  first  manufacturing  was  conducted  on  a 
small  scale,  the  articles  produced  being  chiefly  textile  fabrics, 
iron,  nails,  shoes,  and  similar  articles  intended  for  domes- 
tic use.  The  setting  up  of  slitting  mills  being  forbidden 
by  act  of  Parliament,  the  iron  industry  was  greatly  handi- 
capped. 

It  was  not  until  after  the  Revolution  that  the  present 
supremacy  of  New  England  as  a  manufacturing  section  be- 
gan. Lumber  and  grist  mills  were  common,  linens  and 
coarse  woolens  were  made,  particularly  by  the  Scotch-Irish 
of  New  Hampshire  and  Massachusetts,  while  hats  and  paper 
in  small  quantities  were  manufactured  in  various  places. 
Fishing,  shipbuilding  and  commerce  became  the  most  im- 
portant of  New  England  industries.17  The  fishery  industry 
in  particular  afforded  an  occupation  for  thousands  of  bold 
and  hardy  men  who  braved  the  rough  weather  and  perilous 
seas  to  make  voyages  to  Newfoundland,  Labrador  and  other 
places  in  pursuit  of  cod,  whale  and  mackerel.  As  early  as 
1750  there  were  employed  in  the  mackerel  fishery  and  other 
small  catch  for  the  West  Indian  market  200  vessels;  in  cod 
fishing,  400  vessels,  and  in  the  pursuit  of  whales  on  the  North 
American  coast,  100  vessels.18 

In  1764  New  England  employed  45,880  tons  of  ship- 
ping and  6,000  men  in  the  cod  fishing  industry,  and  at  the 
outbreak  of  the  Revolution  Nantucket  alone  had  150  vessels 
of  150,000  tons  employed  in  the  various  fisheries.  The  out- 
put of  the  whale  fishery  was  45,000  barrels  of  sperm,  8,500 

!7  Weeden,  "  Social  and  Economic  History  of  New  England "  (and  similar 
articles),  vol.  i.  p.  115. 

is  Weeden,  "Social  and  Economic  History  of  New  England,"  vol.  i.  pp. 
359-360. 


COLONIAL    LIFE  231 

barrels  of  oil  and  7,500  pounds  of  bone.19  It  was  the  fishery 
industry  which  laid  the  foundation  of  the  greatness  of 
Massachusetts,  and  it  has  continued  to  this  day  to  be  one  of 
the  sources  of  the  industrial  strength  of  this  progressive 
commonwealth . 

Very  soon  after  the  planting  of  the  New  England 
colonies  shipbuilding  on  a  small  scale  was  begun,  the  coasting 
trade  was  presently  monopolized  by  New  England  vessels, 
and  at  the  time  of  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution  an  exten- 
sive and  profitable  commerce  with  the  West  Indies  and  with 
Europe  was  being  carried  on  mainly  by  ships  built  in  New 
England  yards.  Dried  fish,  beef,  pork,  oil,  lumber,  staves, 
hay,  grain  and  cattle  and  horses  were  carried  to  the  West 
Indies,  and  exchanged  for  sugar,  molasses,  coffee,  cotton, 
salt  and  other  tropical  products. 

By  the  British  Sugar  Act,  passed  in  1733,  the  American 
colonies  were  practically  forbidden  to  trade  with  any  of  the 
West  Indies  not  under  British  control,  but  the  act  was  sys- 
tematically evaded  by  the  colonists.  Thus,  in  1763,  of  the 
15,000  hogsheads  of  molasses  which  were  imported  into 
Masssachusetts  from  the  West  Indies,  only  500  came  from 
the  British  Islands.2^  Rhode  Island  brought  in  14,000  hogs- 
heads in  one  year,  only  2,500  of  which  were  imported  in  con- 
formity to  the  law.21  The  molasses  thus  imported  was  not  in- 
frequently taken  to  New  England,  converted  into  rum,  which 
in  turn  was  shipped  to  Newfoundland,  along  with  tar  and 
provisions,  and  exchanged  for  fish.  The  latter  article  was  car- 
ried to  southern  Europe  to  supply  the  large  Catholic  demand, 
and  exchanged  for  goods  needed  in  America.  A  common 
practice  also  was  to  ship  cargoes  of  rum  to  the  west  coast  of 
Africa,  where  it  was  easily  exchanged  for  slaves,  and  these 

loWeeden,  "Social  and  Economic  History  of  New  England,"  vol.  ii.  p.  748. 
20  Ibid.,  vol.  ii.  p.  754. 
2i  Ibid.,  vol.  ii.  p.   756. 


%m  THE    UNITED    STATES 

were  brought  to  America  and  sold  to  the  Southern  planters  or 
carried  to  the  West  Indies  and  exchanged  for  more  rum. 
In  1750  Massachusetts  could  boast  of  sixty-three  distilleries, 
while  Rhode  Island  had  thirty.  Of  all  the  articles  of  colo- 
nial traffic  rum  was  the  most  important.  Negroes,  fish,  lum- 
ber, vessels,  all  felt  the  impulse  of  its  power.  It  was  mer- 
chandise on  the  coast  of  Guinea,  as  well  as  on  the  banks  of 
Newfoundland,  and  furnished  cargoes  for  about  900  ves- 
sels. Newport,  Rhode  Island,  became  the  chief  center  of  the 
rum- distilling,  negro-importing  business.  It  was  the  port  of 
clearance  for  hundreds  of  vessels  bound  for  the  West  In- 
dies or  for  the  Gold  Coast.  From  a  port  of  the  third-class 
it  rapidly  grew  to  rival  Boston.  Governor  Stephen  Hop- 
kins, one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence, stated  that  for  more  than  thirty  years  prior  to  1764 
Rhode  Island  sent  to  Africa  every  year  eighteen  vessels 
carrying  1,800  hogsheads  of  rum,  which  was  exchanged  for 
slaves.  This  article  by  reason  of  its  cheapness  completely 
displaced  French  brandies  in  the  Gold  Coast  traffic,  and  gave 
the  Americans  the  advantage  in  the  slave  trade.  Among 
those  who  engaged  in  the  African  traffic  was  Peter  Faneuil, 
the  builder  of  Faneuil  Hall,  Boston. 

In  the  middle  colonies  agriculture  was  the  chief  in- 
dustry, except  in  New  York  and  Pennsylvania,  where  the 
traffic  in  furs  and  peltries  was  of  considerable  importance. 
The  soil  was  better  adapted  for  farming  in  these  colonies, 
and  consequently  agriculture  was  carried  on  with  more  suc- 
cess and  profit  than  in  New  England.  The  principal  staple 
was  wheat,  while  cattle  and  other  live-stock  were  raised  in 
considerable  quantities  for  export  to  England  and  the  West 
Indies.  In  New  York  the  most  profitable  industry  was  the 
traffic  with  the  Indians  in  furs  and  peltries.  Shrewd  and 
adventurous  traders,  supplied  with  trinkets,  novelties,  fire- 
arms and  rum,  met  the  Indians  at  Albany  and  exchanged 


COLONIAL    LIFE 


%U 


their  cheap  wares  for  valuable  furs,  which  were  in  turn  sold 
in  Manhattan  at  a  large  profit. 

The  town  of  New  York  soon  became  an  important 
center  of  trade  and  commerce,  although  it  was  not  until  the 
nineteenth  century  that  it  passed  Philadelphia  and  Boston  in 
population  and  importance.  Before  the  outbreak  of  the 
Revolution  the  iron  industry,  which  was  subsequently  to  be- 
come a  source  of  enormous  wealth  to  Pennsylvania,  had  al- 


; '-f:' 

Hall,  Boston,  Massachusetts 
"  The  Cradle  of  Liberty  " 
From  a  recent  photograph 

ready  made  a  beginning,  although  it  was  greatly  hampered 
by  the  restrictive  trade  acts  of  the  mother  country.  The 
first  iron  furnace  was  set  up  in  1720  and  by  1750  the  annual 
export  of  pig  iron  amounted  to  3,000  tons.22 

22  Lodge,  "  Short  History  of  the  English  Colonies,"  p.  230. 


234  THE    UNITED    STATES 

In  the  southern  colonies  agriculture  was  almost  the  only 
occupation  of  the  inhabitants,  and  the  great  staples  were  to- 
bacco, rice  and  indigo.  Cotton  was  raised  in  small  quanti- 
ties, but  the  growing  of  this  plant  did  not  become  an  impor- 
tant industry  until  after  the  invention  of  the  cotton  gin. 
The  economic  wealth  of  Virginia  lay  in  the  tobacco  industry. 
The  colony  was  dotted  with  great  plantations  devoted  al- 
most exclusively  to  the  cultivation  of  this  one  crop.  On 
account  of  its  importance  in  the  economic  life  of  the  colony 
it  was  for  a  time  used  as  currency  for  the  payment  of  salar- 
ies and  taxes  and  the  purchase  of  supplies,  while  its  cultiva- 
tion was  carefully  supervised  and  regulated  by  the  govern- 
ment. No  community  was  probably  ever  so  completely  ab- 
sorbed in  the  production  of  any  one  article.  It  was  the  chief 
subject  of  export,  and  in  many  cases  the  vessels  which  carried 
it  to  Europe  came  directly  to  the  wharf  of  the  planter  where 
the  cargo  was  taken  aboard.  The  profits  were  large  and  the 
desire  to  extend  the  acreage  created  a  demand  for  more 
slaves.  By  the  time  of  the  Revolution  not  less  than  100,000 
hogsheads,  valued  at  a  million  pounds  sterling,  and  requiring 
about  300  vessels  for  their  transport,  were  being  annually  ex- 
ported from  this  colony.23 

Its  importance  at  the  time  was  illustrated  by  an  incident 
that  occurred  on  the  occasion  of  the  visit  of  a  delegation  of 
Virginians  to  London  in  1692  for  the  purpose  of  soliciting 
aid  for  William  and  Mary  College.  Addressing  the  attor- 
ney-general, the  spokesman  of  the  delegation  called  atten- 
tion to  the  influence  a  college  for  the  higher  education  of 
the  people  might  exert  in  the  saving  of  souls.  To  this  al- 
lusion the  attorney-general  bluntly  replied,  "Souls!  damn 
your  souls,  raise  tobacco!"  In  South  Carolina  the  culti- 
vation of  rice  was  at  first  the  chief  industry  of  the  people. 
This  grain  was  introduced  near  the  close  of  the  seventeenth 

23  Lodge,  "  Short  History  of  the  English  Colonies,"  p.  65. 


COLONIAL    LIFE 


235 


century,  and  by  the  middle  of  the  following  century  it  oc- 
cupied almost  the  same  place  in  the  economic  and  industrial 
life  of  the  colony  as  did  tobacco  in  Virginia.  In  1770  the 
lieutenant-governor  reported  to  the  English  Board  of 
Trade  that  about  3,000  wagons  came  to  Charleston  in  one 


William  and  Mary  College,  Williamsburg,  Virginia 
From  a  recent  photograph 

year  from  the  back  country  loaded  with  this  product.  A  cal- 
culation made  in  1768  placed  the  total  value  of  rice  produced 
in  the  colony  at  £500,000.24  At  first  exceedingly  profitable, 
it  gradually  became  less  so,  and  was  superseded  in  a  large 
measure  by  the  cultivation  of  indigo.  The  cultivation  of  this 
latter  plant  was  the  chief  industry  of  South  Carolina  at  the 
time  of  the  Revolution,  although  the  cultivation  of  cotton 
was  rapidly  becoming  a  close  rival.  In  North  Carolina  lum- 
ber and  naval  stores,  such  as  tar,  pitch  and  turpentine,  were 

2*McCrady,   "South   Carolina   under   the    Royal  Government,"   pp.   388-391. 


236  THE    UNITED    STATES 

produced  largely  for  export  to  New  England  and  to  Europe, 
while  in  all  the  southern  colonies  live  stock  and  cereals  were 
raised  in  large  quantities,  also  for  the  foreign  trade. 

Manufactures  did  not  flourish  in  the  southern  colonies, 
for  the  people  found  it  more  profitable  to  raise  the  great 
staples  and  purchase  their  necessary  articles  of  manufacture 
from  New  England  or  the  mother  country.  Furthermore, 
it  soon  became  evident  that  an  industrial  system  founded  on 
slave  labor  was  ill  adapted  to  the  growth  of  manufacturing, 
and  so  the  South  continued  throughout  the  colonial  period, 
and  indeed  until  very  recently,  an  almost  exclusively  agri- 
cultural section. 

The  learned  professions  were  comparatively  few  in  all 
the  colonies  and  played  a  subordinate  part  in  the  intellectual 
and  economic  life  of  the  times.  The  practice  of  law  as  a 
learned  profession  hardly  existed,  and  lawyers  were  gener- 
ally looked  upon  with  suspicion.25  Litigation  was  rather 
small  in  amount,  retainers  were  not  large,  and  the  opportu- 
nities of  distinction  few.  Consequently  the  bar  did  not  at- 
tract the  best  classes  of  young  men.  Barristers  there  were  in 
abundance,  but  they  were  frequently  sharpers,  pettifoggers 
or  adventurers  from  London,  and  were  largely  lacking  in 
that  sense  of  professional  honor  which  is  the  pride  of  the 
American  bar  to-day.  The  qualifications  for  admission  to 
the  bar  were  few;  in  fact  laymen  were  frequently  allowed 
to  act  as  attorneys,  and  the  opportunities  and  facilities  for 
the  study  of  law  were  meager.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century  lawyers  were  so  few  that  even  the  most 
important  judicial  positions  were  often  filled  by  men  with- 
out specific  legal  training,  and  this  was  true  in  the  southern 
and  middle  colonies  as  well  as  in  New  England.26    Before 

25  Osgood,  "  The  American  Colonies  in  the  Seventeenth  Century,"  vol.  ii.  p. 
434;  Lodge,  "Short  History  of  English  Colonies,"  p.  53;  see  also  McCrady, 
"  South  Carolina  Under  the  Royal  Government,"  p.  459. 

26  Greene,  "  Provincial  America,"  p.  317. 


COLONIAL    LIFE  237 

the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution,  however,  there  had  come  a 
great  improvement  in  the  character  of  the  bar.  Men  of  high 
position  and  talents,  college  graduates  and  ambitious  young 
men  generally,  turned  to  the  legal  profession  as  affording 
the  best  opportunity  for  careers  of  honorable  distinction. 
Especially  in  Philadelphia  did  the  bar  attain  a  position  of 
respectability  and  influence,  and  the  saying,  "  Smart  as  a 
Philadelphia  lawyer,"  was  a  popular  aphorism  that  has  come 
down  to  the  present  day.  It  was  a  Philadelphian,  Andrew 
Hamilton,  who  rose  to  the  leadership  of  the  colonial  bar,  his 
reputation  as  a  barrister  even  extending  to  Europe.  In 
Virginia,  Patrick  Henry,  Thomas  Jefferson,  Gorge  Wythe 
and  John  Marshall  were  already  laying  the  foundation  of 
those  remarkable  careers  which  were  to  add  dignity  and 
prestige  to  the  legal  profession.     . 

The  medical  profession  was  in  but  little  better  repute  at 
this  time  than  that  of  the  law.  The  practice  of  medicine  was 
in  the  crudest  state.  Quacks  and  impostors  were  numerous, 
and  nostrums  were  a  common  reliance.  Medical  knowledge 
was  scant,  surgical  skill  almost  unknown  and  medicinal  drugs 
few.  Preparations  made  from  bark  and  herbs  sufficed  for 
ordinary  ills,  while  generous  bleeding  was  supposed  to  be  the 
first  remedy  for  the  worst  cases. 

The  methods  of  treatment  were  often  barbarous ;  besides 
cupping  and  leeching,  the  patient  was  subject  to  other  tor- 
ments believed  to  be  efficacious.  Water  was  denied  the  vic- 
tim tormented  with  fever,  and  in  its  stead  small  quantities  of 
clam- juice  were  given.  Inoculation  was  practically  un- 
known until  well  on  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and  on  ac- 
count of  the  prevalent  superstition  it  was  not  frequently  re- 
sorted to  until  much  later.  Hardly  one  of  the  many  reme- 
dies now  in  general  use  for  assuaging  pain  and  destroying 
diseases  were  then  known.27 

27  McMaster,  "  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  i.  p.  30. 


238 


THE     UNITED      STATES 


In  New  England  the  most  influential  and  respectable 
profession   was   that   of  the  ministry.     The   clergy   were 


Cotton  Mather 
After  the  first  engraved  plate  made  in  the  United  States 


usually  men  of  high  education;  almost  without  exception  they 
were  university  graduates,  and  many  of  them  could  read  the 
Bible  in  Hebrew  or  Greek  and  expound  it  in  Latin.     They 


COLONIAL    LIFE 

exercised  a  predominant  influence  in  political  affairs,  di- 
rected public  policy  to  a  large  extent,  secured  the  passage  of 
such  laws  as  they  desired,  and  were  frequently  consulted  by 
the  magistrates,  by  whom  their  advice  was  usually  followed. 
They  were  held  in  great  affection  and  esteem  by  all  classes, 
and  were  looked  upon  as  oracles  of  wisdom.  The  most 
powerful  New  England  preacher  of  the  eighteenth  century 
was  Jonathan  Edwards,  whose  work,  entitled  "  Freedom 
of  the  Will,"  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  greatest  productions 
of  colonial  literature.  Other  notable  New  England  divines 
were  Thomas  Hooker,  Increase  Mather,  Cotton  Mather, 
John  Cotton,  Samuel  Willard  and  Mather  Byles. 


Ill 

EDUCATION,  LITERATURE  AND  PRINTING 

In  all  the  colonies  educational  facilities  were  poor.  In 
New  England  apparently  the  need  of  education  was  most 
highly  appreciated,  and  the  means  of  instruction  first  sup- 
plied in  1635.  Four  years  after  the  founding  of  Boston  the 
town  meeting  voted  to  establish  a  school  with  Philemon  Par- 
mount  as  teacher,28  and  in  the  following  year  Harvard  Col- 
lege was  founded.  It  received  its  name  from  the  Rev.  John 
Harvard,  who  bequeathed  one-half  his  property  and  his  en- 
tire library  of  400  volumes  to  the  institution.29  Antedating 
Harvard  College  by  two  years  was  the  famous  Boston  Latin 
School,  largely  due  to  the  Rev.  John  Cotton.  In  1647  the 
General  Court  of  Massachusetts  directed  that  a  common 
school  be  established  in  every  township  containing  fifty  fami- 
lies, and  a  grammar  school  in  the  larger  towns.  This  was  the 
beginning  of  the  excellent  system  of  public  schools  which  has 

28  Howard,  "Local  Constitutional  History,"  p.  67. 

29  Dexter,  "  History  of  Education  in  the  United  States,"  p.  226. 


240  THE    UNITED    STATES 

ever  been  the  pride  of  the  people  of  this  noble  common- 
wealth. Connecticut  and  New  Hampshire  were  hardly  be- 
hind Massachusetts  in  educational  growth,  although  in 
Rhode  Island  progress  was  poor  in  spite  of  legislation.30  In 
all  these  colonies  private  schools  were  early  established,  pub- 
lic school  systems  soon  followed,  and  compulsory  attendance 
was  ultimately  adopted  in  all,  if  poorly  enforced  in  practice. 

In  1701  Yale  College,  the  second  institution  of  the  kind 
in  New  England,  was  founded  at  New  Haven,  taking  its 
name  from  Elihu  Yale,  a  man  of  Boston  birth  who  lived  most 
of  his  life  in  England,  and  who  made  various  bequests  of 
small  amount  to  the  young  institution.  Brown  University  in 
Rhode  Island  was  founded  in  1764,  and  Dartmouth  in  New 
Hampshire  in  1770.  In  the  Middle  States  the  interest  in  edu- 
cation was  fair,  though  the  public  school  facilities  did  not 
compare  in  excellence  with  those  of  New  England.  In  1633 
a  school  was  opened  by  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church  at  New 
Amsterdam,  which  was  apparently  the  first  school  opened 
in  the  colonies,  and  its  lineal  descendant  is  still  in  exist- 
ence. Many  other  schools  were  established  by  the  burghers 
for  the  children,  and  we  have  reason  to  believe  that  a  high 
rate  of  intelligence  prevailed  among  these  sturdy  settlers. 
Under  English  occupation  even  more  progress  was  made. 
In  1754  King's  College  was  established  in  New  York,  with 
Dr.  Samuel  Johnson  as  president  and  sole  teacher.  After 
the  Revolution  it  was  rechristened  Columbia  College,  and 
numbered  among  its  early  graduates  Alexander  Hamilton, 
John  Jay  and  Gouverneur  Morris.  Before  the  Revolution, 
New  Jersey,  although  a  small  colony,  could  boast  of  two 
colleges,  Princeton,  founded  in  1746,  and  Rutgers,  founded 
about  twenty  years  later. 

A  noteworthy  educational  institution  in  Pennsylvania 
was  the  Academy  of  Pennsylvania,  founded  mainly  through 

30  Channing,  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  i.  p.  433. 


COLONIAL    LIFE  241 

the  efforts  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  in  1749,  and  which  subse- 
quently grew  into  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  In  1765 
the  University  established  a  medical  school,  the  first  school  of 
the  kind  in  the  colonies.  In  the  southern  colonies,  for 
various  reasons,  public  education  did  not  make  much  head- 
way. Here  the  plantation  system  prevailed,  towns  and  vil- 
lages were  few,  and  the  democratic  spirit  which  lies  at  the 
basis  of  the  public  school  system  was  largely  lacking,  al- 
though in  Virginia  the  vestry  was  charged  with  seeing  that 
all  poor  children  were  taught  to  read  and  write,  and  in  prac- 
tice every  minister  maintained  a  school.31  Situated  far  apart 
as  the  planters  were,  schools  of  any  kind  were  maintained 
with  difficulty.  Most  of  the  wealthier  families  employed  pri- 
vate tutors  to  instruct  their  sons,  as  was  the  case  with  the 
Washington  family,  while  some  of  them  sent  their  sons  to 
London  to  study  at  the  Temple,  or  to  Oxford,  Edinburgh  or 
Cambridge.  Colleges  and  universities  were  few  in  the 
southern  colonies,  yet  it  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  the  second 
college  to  be  established  in  America  was  in  Virginia.  This 
was  the  College  of  William  and  Mary,  founded  in  1696, 
largely  through  the  efforts  of  the  Rev.  James  Blair,  who  was 
sent  to  London  to  solicit  aid,  and  who  succeeded  in  securing 
a  charter  from  William  and  Mary,  together  with  a  grant  of 
£2,000  "  out  of  the  rents  "  for  the  erection  of  buildings.32 
The  college  had  a  president  and  six  poorly-paid  profess- 
ors and  a  library  of  3,000  volumes,  which  was  considered  a 
large  one  for  that  day.  This  college  alone  of  the  higher  col- 
onial educational  institutions  has  been  unable  to  hold  its  own 
with  its  contemporaries,  so  far  as  number  of  students  is  con- 
cerned. During  the  eighteenth  century  it  declined,  and  by 
the  time  of  the  Revolution  it  was  little  more  than  a  grammar 

3i  L.  G.  Tyler,  "  England  in  America,"  p.  116. 

32  Dexter,  "History  of  Education,"  p.  324;   Greene,  "Provincial  America," 
ch.  xviii. 


242  THE    UNITED    STATES 

school.  Nevertheless  its  contribution  of  distinguished  men  to 
the  cause  of  American  independence  was  probably  unequaled 
by  that  of  any  other  college.  Five  of  the  signers  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  and  sixteen  members  of  the 
Continental  Congress  were  among  its  alumni.  Of  these 
may  be  mentioned  Peyton  Randolph,  Thomas  Jefferson, 
James  Monroe  and  John  Marshall. 

In  all  the  colleges  of  the  time  the  courses  of  study  were 
narrow,  being  limited  chiefly  to  Greek,  Latin,  metaphysics, 
logic,  and  theology;  the  facilities  of  instruction,  such  as  are 
afforded  by  the  modern  library,  laboratory,  and  museum, 
were  almost  wholly  lacking,  and  the  attendance  was  distress- 
ingly small.  From  all,  women  were  excluded,  while  the  con- 
ditions of  life  were  such  that  few  aside  from  the  sons  of 
the  well-to-do  were  able  to  enjoy  the  meager  opportunities 
thus  offered.  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  some  of  these  colleges 
were  either  founded  or  supported  by  lotteries,  and  that  the 
chief  purpose  of  most  of  them  was  to  train  young  men  for 
the  ministry.  So  far  as  the  standard  of  their  curricula  was 
concerned,  hardly  any  of  them  were  more  than  academies. 

In  literature  and  arts,  as  in  education,  New  England 
took  the  lead  among  the  colonies,  although  there  was  little 
to  excite  pride.  Before  the  Revolution  the  literature  of 
New  England  belonged  to  two  classes,  namely,  chronicles 
and  theological  writings.  The  former  were  marked  by  a 
spirit  of  partisanship  and  want  of  critical  style,  while  the 
latter  consisted  mostly  of  sermons,  controversial  treatises 
and  polemical  essays,  usually  ponderous  with  metaphysical 
abstractions  and  dogmas.  In  New  England  nearly  all  the 
writers  of  note  were  theologians.  Of  these,  Jonathan  Ed- 
wards was  the  most  powerful.  His  writings  were  charac- 
terized by  a  force  of  style  and  a  profundity  of  thought  which 
placed  him  among  the  greatest  thinkers  of  this  time.  Other 
American  writers  of  note  were  Hugh  Peters,  afterwards 


Copyright,  1905,  by  John  D.  Morris  &  Company 

Franklix  Experiments  with  Electricity 
Painting    by    Charles    Storch 


COLONIAL    LIFE  245 

chaplain  to  Oliver  Cromwell;  Roger  Williams,  whose  most 
important  work,  "  Bloody  Tenant  of  Persecution "  ap- 
peared in  1644;  John  Cotton,  who  wrote,  in  reply  to 
Williams's  treatise,  "  The  Bloody  Tenant  washed  and  made 
white  in  the  Blood  of  the  Lamb  " ;  William  Bradford,  author 
of  a  "  History  of  Plymouth  ";  John  Winthrop,  author  of 
a  "  History  of  New  England  ";  Cotton  Mather,  author  of 
the  "  Magnalia,"  an  ecclesiastical  history  of  New  England 
from  1620  to  1698;  and  Benjamin  Franklin,  whose  auto- 
biography and  "  Poor  Richard's  Almanack,"  are  works  of  a 
high  order,  which,  with  his  scientific  achievements,  won  him 
the  distinction  abroad  of  being  the  best  known  American. 
Franklin's  autobiography  was  the  most  widely  current  book 
in  our  colonial  literature,  while  "  Poor  Richard's  Almanack," 
first  begun  in  1732,  continued  for  twenty-five  years,  and  had 
an  annual  circulation  of  ten  thousand  copies.33  It  was  re- 
plete with  proverbial  sayings  told  in  prose  and  verse  and 
inculcating  the  virtues  of  industry,  honesty,  and  frugality. 
A  writer  who  exercised  a  powerful  influence  during  the  Rev- 
olutionary period  was  Thomas  Paine,  who  published,  anony- 
mously, at  Philadelphia,  in  January,  1776,  a  pamphlet  en- 
titled "  Common  Sense,"  which  was  a  series  of  essays  advo- 
cating the  independence  of  the  colonies  and  the  establishment 
of  a  republic.34  It  was  followed  in  December  by  the 
"Crisis,"  which  began  with  the  famous  saying:  "These 
are  the  times  that  try  men's  souls."  Full  of  crudities  of 
thought  and  superficiality,  "  Common  Sense  "  was  withal  a 
masterly  pamphlet,  and  it  was  eagerly  read  and  rapidly 
went  through  many  editions.  It  convinced  multitudes  of 
wavering  patriots  that  the  true  interest  of  the  colonies  re- 
quired their  immediate  separation  from  Great  Britain.35 

Outside  of  New  England  and  Pennsylvania,  however, 

33  Beers,  "  Studies  in  American  Letters,"  p.  39. 

34  Conway,  "Writings  of  Paine,"  pp.  67-169. 

35  M.  C.  Tyler,  "  Literary  History  of  the  American  Revolution,"  vol.  i.  p.  474. 


246  THE    UNITED    STATES 

there  was  little  written  which  is  worthy  of  the  name  of  liter- 
ature if  we  except  some  attempts  at  historical  writing  in 
Virginia  by  a  clergyman  named  William  Stith,  and  by 
Robert  Beverly,  and  the  really  amusing  diary  of  Colonel 
William  Byrd.     Stith  and  Beverly  wrote  histories  of  the 


Thomas  Paine 
From  a  painting  by  an  unknown  artist 

Virginia  colony,  while  Colonel  Byrd  left  his  memoirs,  includ- 
ing an  account  of  his  experiences  as  a  commissioner  for  run- 
ning the  boundary  line  between  North  Carolina  and  Vir- 
ginia. The  latter  is  replete  with  wit  and  humor,  shows 
power  of  keen  observation,  and  is  by  no  means  lacking  in 
literary  merit.36 

36  See  Bassett,  "  Writings  of  William  Byrd." 


COLONIAL    LIFE  247 

The  first  printing  press  in  the  colonies  was  set  up  at 
Cambridge  in  1639,  and  in  the  following  year  the  first  book 
ever  printed  in  America  was  issued  from  it.  This  was  the 
"  Bay  Psalm  Book,"  a  collection  of  psalms  made  by  various 
ministers,  one  of  whom,  John  Eliot,  translated  the  Bible  into 
the  Algonquin  tongue  for  the  benefit  of  the  Indians.  There 
were  no  printing  presses  in  Virginia  until  1729,  and  Gov- 
ernor Berkeley  thanked  God  in  1671  for  it,  as  "  printing 
presses,"  he  said,  "  bring  heresies  in  the  world  and  libel  the 
best  government  that  the  world  ever  saw."  37  The  early 
printing  press  was,  of  course,  a  crude  and  cumbersome  affair, 
was  worked  by  hand  and  had  a  capacity  of  hardly  more  than 
a  hundred  tiny  sheets  per  hour.  Few  of  our  early  inven- 
tions afford  greater  objects  of  curiosity  to-day  than  the 
printing  press  of  Benjamin  Franklin's  time. 

Newspapers  were  few  and  of  the  very  poorest  kind. 
Ordinarily  they  were  but  a  few  times  larger  than  a  man's 
hand  in  size,  were  printed  on  coarse  paper,  and  seldom  cir- 
culated more  than  fifty  miles  beyond  the  place  where  they 
were  printed.  Their  small  columns  were  often  filled  with 
essays  on  politics,  morals,  religion  or  metaphysics,  by  writers 
who  signed  themselves  Cincinnatus,  Cicero,  or  some  other 
classical  name.  There  were  no  editorials,  and  the  little  news 
from  abroad  was  forgotten  in  the  Old  World  ere  it  crossed 
the  Atlantic.  Their  small  columns  were  often  filled  with 
quaint  advertisements  of  runaway  slaves  or  servants,  or  with 
extracts  from  some  standard  history.  For  lack  of  news  a 
Boston  paper  published  Robertson's  "  History  of  America  " 
as  a  serial,  while  another  reprinted  Cook's  "  Voyages." 
Not  infrequently  "  broadsides,"  or  extra  sheets,  were  printed 
on  eventful  occasions  and  sold  on  the  streets.  The  first 
newspaper  published  in  the  colonies  was  the  Boston  News 
Letter,  founded  in  1704,  and  which  fifteen  years  later  was 

37  Hart,  "  Contemporaries,"  vol.  i.  p.  241. 

as  McMaster,  "  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  i.  p.  37. 


248  THE    UNITED    STATES 

flourishing  with  a  circulation  of  300  copies.39  The  first  news- 
paper founded  in  the  south  was  the  Virginia  Gazette, 
started  in  1736,  and  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution  there 
were  thirty- seven  newspapers  in  circulation  in  the  thirteen 
colonies.  Of  these  fourteen  were  in  New  England,  four  in 
New  York,  and  nine  in  Pennsylvania;  Virginia  and  North 
Carolina  had  two  each,  Georgia  one,  South  Carolina  three. 
The  contents  of  the  whole  thirty-seven  would  scarcely  fill 
a  dozen  pages  in  a  single  one  of  our  modern  dailies,  and  their 
combined  circulation  did  not  exceed  a  few  thousand  copies. 
Not  one  of  them  was  a  daily,  and,  as  for  magazines  and  other 
periodicals,  they  were  not  even  thought  of. 

As  with  newspapers,  so  it  was  with  books:  there  were 
few  and  they  were  of  poor  quality.  Most  of  those  read  in 
America  were,  of  course,  imported  from  the  mother  country ; 
but  there  were  few  who,  like  Lewis  Morris  of  Morrisania, 
could  instruct  their  London  bookseller  to  send  a  long  list 
"  lettered  and  gilt  as  usual."  They  consisted  chiefly  of 
theological  treatises,  essays  on  logic  and  metaphysics,  bi- 
ographies and  treatises  on  the  law  of  nations.  Among  the 
books  most  widely  read  in  the  colonies  were  Fox's  "  Lives 
of  the  Martyrs,"  VatteFs  "  Law  of  Nations,"  Bunyan's 
"  Pilgrim's  Progress,"  Rollins's  "  Ancient  History,"  Plu- 
tarch's "  Lives,"  Watt's  "  Improvement  of  the  Mind,"  and 
various  Latin  and  Greek  authors. 


IV 

RELIGION   AND   RELIGIOUS   WORSHIP 

Religious  worship  played  an  important  part  in  the  life 
of  the  colonies,  and  the  church  was  an  institution  of  vast 
power  and  influence  in  social  and  political  affairs.  The 
basic  idea  of  all  the  colonial  foundations  assumed  the  ne- 

80  Weeden,  "  Social  and  Economic  History,"  vol.  ii.  p.  54>6. 


COLONIAL    LIFE  249 

cessity  of  a  vital  relation  between  church  and  state.40  In 
every  New  England  town  there  was  a  Congregational 
church,  which  was  in  a  sense  the  center  of  the  town  life,  and  it 
was  not  merely  the  creature  of  the  state,  but  was  the  state 
itself.41  The  moral  support  which  the  clergy,  the  most  in- 
fluential element  in  the  New  England  colonies,  gave  to  the 
government  was  very  powerful,  and  in  times  of  crises  they 
were  leaders  at  the  forefront.  They  were  held  in  great  re- 
spect by  all  classes  and  their  advice  was  frequently  sought 
by  the  magistrates,  and  nearly  always  followed.  They  acted 
as  referees  on  many  questions  of  policy;  their  expositions 
of  the  laws  were  the  most  authoritative  that  we  have;  they 
frequently  prepared  the  first  draft  of  the  laws  of  the  col- 
ony, and  together  with  the  magistrates  they  acted  as  censors 
of  the  press;  they  were,  in  short,  political  as  well  as  moral 
leaders.42  Attendance  upon  the  church  was  usually  required 
by  law  and  was  strictly  enforced  by  the  magistrates.  Ap- 
parently the  people  did  not  consider  it  a  great  hardship  to 
be  compelled  to  sit  shivering  for  hours  on  wooden  benches 
and  to  listen  to  harangues  on  the  torture  of  a  lost  soul,  the 
awful  wrath  of  God,  the  salvation  of  the  elect,  or  some  other 
doctrinal  question. 

The  Sabbath  day  was  observed  with  characteristic 
Puritan  strictness.  It  began  at  6  p.  m.  on  Saturday  and 
lasted  until  sundown  on  Sunday,  and  during  this  period 
amusements  of  every  kind  were  absolutely  prohibited. 
Traveling  and  lounging  on  the  streets,  as  well  as  the 
entertainment  of  strangers,  were  likewise  regarded  as 
sinful  and  forbidden  by  law.  The  people  of  the  town  were 
summoned  to  church  by  the  beating  of  a  drum  or  the  blowing 
of  a  horn,  for  bells  had  not  yet  come  into  use.  In  the  early 
days,  when  Indian  outbreaks  were  common,  the  parishioners 

40  Cobb,  "  Rise  of  Religious  Liberty  in  America,"  p.  1. 

41  Trevelyan,  "  The  American  Revolution,"  part  ii.  p.  281. 

42  Osgood,  "  The  American  Colonies  in  the  Seventeenth  Century,"  vol.  i.  p.  218. 


250  THE     UNITED      STATES 

went  armed  and  the  minister  frequently  delivered  his  dis- 
course with  a  musket  by  his  side  and  a  sentinel  at  the  door. 
That  such  precautions  were  not  ill-timed,  the  Indian  tragedy 
on  that  fateful  Sunday  morning  at  Hadley  bears  witness. 
The  worldly  individual  who  absented  himself  from  the  house 
of  God  on  the  Sabbath  day  was  waited  upon  by  the  tithing- 
man  and  punished  either  by  fine  or  imprisonment.  The 
thoughtless  maiden  who  smiled  during  the  service  was  in 
danger  of  banishment,  while  those  who  slumbered  received 
admonitions  from  the  tithing-man  of  such  a  nature  as  not 
to  be  soon  forgotten.  If  the  offender  belonged  to  the  male 
sex  he  received  a  rap  over  the  head  from  a  pole  in  the  hands 
of  the  tithing-man;  if  a  female,  she  was  awakened  by  the 
gentle  brush  of  a  rabbit's  foot.43 

The  church  services  strongly  reflected  the  Puritan  char- 
acter. There  was  no  music  except  the  singing  of  hymns, 
the  prayers  compared  in  length  with  that  of  the  sermon, 
and  sacraments  were  a  regular  part  of  every  service. 
The  men  were  seated  on  one  side  of  the  aisle  and 
the  women  on  the  other,  with  the  pulpit  steps  and  the 
rear  seats  occupied  by  the  children  and  negroes.  With 
regard  to  distance  from  the  pulpit  the  worshipers  were 
carefully  seated  according  to  age,  social  rank,  estate, 
office,  or  amount  contributed  toward  the  erection  of  the 
church.  In  one  Long  Island  town  those  who  contributed 
forty  shillings  to  the  minister's  salary,  together  with  the 
justices  of  the  peace,  were  given  seats  at  the  table,  the 
trustees  of  the  church  were  given  the  front  seat,  while  the  re- 
maining ones  were  assigned  on  the  basis  of  church  con- 
tributions. One  Massachusetts  town  had  a  standing  com- 
mittee of  five  to  seat  the  church  members  and  another  com- 
mittee of  two  to   seat  the   committee   with  their  wives.44 

«  Lodge,  "  Short  History  of  the  English  Colonies,"  p.  480  et  seq. 
**Weeden,  "Social  and  Economic  History,"  vol.  i.  pp.  280,  417,  418. 


,        c    .      .  •    «' 


COLONIAL    LIFE 

Religious  worship  in  New  England  was  characterized  by 
a  superstition  and  intoleration  which  to  one  of  our  day  seems 
almost  incredible.  Having  fled  from  the  intolerance  of  Eng- 
land, we  of  this  generation  might  expect  to  see  the  New 
England  church  founded  on  the  rock  of  toleration,  if  not 
of  religious  liberty;  but  such  was  not  the  case,  for  it  soon 
transpired  that  they  did  not  want  religious  liberty  for  any 
others  than  themselves.  To  the  early  religious  leaders  of 
Massachusetts  especially,  toleration  of  dissent  from  the 
"  established  order  "  of  religious  worship  was  as  sedition  in 
the  state  and  sin  against  God,  John  Cotton  going  so  far  as 
to  say  that  "  it  was  toleration  that  had  made  the  world  anti- 
Christian."  45  Outside  of  Rhode  Island,  Catholics,  Jews, 
Baptists,  Quakers,  and  Episcopalians  were  at  times  sub- 
jected to  various  forms  of  persecution — flogging,  imprison- 
ment, exile,  and  even  death.  The  New  England  hatred  for 
those  who  adhered  to  the  Church  of  England  was  especially 
bitter.  No  attempt  was  ever  made  by  the  government  to 
force  this  church  upon  the  inhabitants  of  the  New  England 
colonies,  but  only  to  secure  for  it  a  foothold.  But  in  this  the 
government  was  unsuccessful  and  the  church  never  made  any 
headway  outside  of  Connecticut  and  Boston.  The  seven- 
teenth century  was  an  age  of  fierce  and  narrow  bigotry,  but 
as  time  passed  there  was  a  tendency  toward  a  wider  tolera- 
tion of  religious  liberty  and  gradually  the  spirit  of  perse- 
cution died  away. 

Rhode  Island  was,  of  course,  an  exception  to  what  has 
been  said  concerning  religious  intolerance  in  New  England. 
This  colony  was  a  haven  for  despised  sects  of  every  class, 
and  in  consequence  of  the  complete  religious  liberty  which 
it  allowed  in  an  intolerant  age,  it  became  a  community  of 
fanatical  sects,  and,  to  some,  extent,  of  turbulence,  disorder, 
and  laxity  of  morals.    There  never  was,  said  Cotton  Mather, 

«  Cobb,  "  The  Rise  of  Religious  Liberty  in  America,"  p.  68. 


254  THE    UNITED    STATES 

such  a  variety  of  religions  on  so  small  a  spot  of  ground.46 
For  a  long  time  church  membership  in  some  of  the  New 
England  States  was  a  qualification  for  the  exercise  of  the 
suffrage,  while  moral  and  religious  tests  for  office  were  not 
uncommon.  Plymouth  denied  the  privileges  of  a  freeman 
to  those  who  were  not  of  a  "  sober,  peaceful  conversation," 
to  those  who  were  "  grossly  scandalouse  or  notoriously 
vitious,"  and  to  those  who  spoke  "  contemptuously  "  of  the 
laws  enacted  by  the  General  Court.  By  a  later  statute  Ply- 
mouth required  freemen  to  be  "  orthodox  in  the  funda- 
mentals of  religion."  Massachusetts  (until  1691)  and  New 
Haven  required  church  membership,  and  after  1664  Mas- 
sachusetts required  a  certificate  from  the  minister  that  the 
applicant  was  not  "  vitious  "  in  his  life.  Connecticut  at  first 
denied  the  privilege  to  those  whose  conduct  was  known  to  be 
"  scandalous,"  while  Rhode  Island  required  a  profession  of 
Christianity,  though  Roman  Catholics  were  debarred.  Vir- 
ginia denied  the  franchise  to  transported  convicts  even 
though  freeholders.  South  Carolina,  by  a  statute  of  1716, 
required  voters  to  profess  the  Christian  religion.  Roman 
Catholics  were  expressly  disfranchised  by  the  statutes  of 
New  York,  Maryland,  Virginia,  and  Rhode  Island,  and 
were  in  practice  not  allowed  to  vote  in  most  of  the  other 
colonies.  Quakers  were  debarred  from  becoming  freemen 
in  Massachusetts  and  Plymouth,  and  there  is  evidence  that 
Jews  were  excluded  in  New  York  and  South  Carolina.47 
In  Massachusetts,  Connecticut  and  New  Hampshire  the 
Congregational  Church  was  established  by  law  and  was  sup- 
ported by  public  taxation,  and  in  the  first  mentioned  State  it 
was  not  completely  disestablished  until  1835. 

In  New  York  under  Dutch  rule  the  Dutch  Reformed 
Church  was  established  by  law,  and  other  sects,  notably 

4«  Richman,  "  Rhode  Island,  Its  Making  and  Its  Meaning,"  vol.  i.  p.  106. 
47  Bishop,  "  History  of  Elections  in  the  American  Colonies,"  pp.  53-64. 


COLONIAL    LIFE  255 

Lutherans,  Catholics,  Jews,  and  Quakers,  were  not  tolerated, 
but  were  arrested,  imprisoned  and  even  driven  from  the  col- 
ony.48 After  the  colony  passed  under  English  rule  the 
Dutch  Reformed  Church  was  disestablished  and  an  Act  was 
passed  to  maintain  the  Anglican  Church,  and  later  (1686) 
it  was  forced  upon  English  and  Dutch  alike,  all  being  taxed 
for  its  support.  But  this  policy  of  coercion  injured  the 
growth  of  the  church,  and  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution  the 
dissenters  in  New  York  probably  outnumbered  the  Angli- 
cans twelve  to  one.  Catholics  were  bitterly  persecuted  by 
the  English  authorities,  and  by  an  Act  of  1700  were  threat- 
ened with  imprisonment  for  life  should  they  persist  in  their 
heretical  teachings.  In  1744  an  Act  was  also  passed  against 
Moravian  preaching  and  severe  penalties  were  attached. 

In  New  Jersey,  Congregationalists  and  Scotch  Presby- 
terians were  the  predominant  sects,  and  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land never  gained  a  foothold  there,  although  certain  of  the 
governors  gave  it  support  and  precedence.  Pennsylvania 
was  distinctly  the  land  of  Quakers  and  Lutherans,  and  to  a 
less  extent  was  her  little  neighbor,  Delaware.  Here  there 
was  an  unusual  degree  of  religious  tolerance;  as  a  conse- 
quence of  which  a  number  of  sects,  such  as  Dunkards, 
Pietists,  Mennonites,  Baptists,  and  Dutch  Calvinists,  sprang 
into  existence.  The  Anglican  Church,  though  set  up  in 
Pennsylvania,  never  flourished.  The  only  anti-religious 
legislation  was  that  directed  against  Catholics,  who  were 
charged  with  inciting  the  people  to  join  the  French  during 
the  Seven  Years'  War,  and  the  motive  of  this  legislation  was 
not  religious  oppression.  There  were  no  instances  of  re- 
ligious persecution  in  Pennsylvania  or  of  personal  hardships 
for  religion's  sake,  unless  exclusion  from  office  can  be  so 
termed.49 

«  Cobb,  "  Rise  of  Religious  Liberty  in  America,*  pp.  314-320. 
♦8  Ibid.,  p.  450 


THE    UNITED    STATES 

In  Maryland,  Virginia,  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia  the 
Church  of  England  was  established  by  law  and  supported 
by  taxation.  In  all  of  these,  however,  dissenters  were  num- 
erous, almost  equal  in  fact  in  numbers  and  influence  to  the 
Episcopalians.  The  Episcopal  clergy  in  the  southern 
colonies  did  not  always  come  up  to  the  standard  of  intel- 
ligence and  piety  of  the  Congregational  ministers  of  New 
England  and  played  a  far  less  important  role  in  the  social 
and  political  life  of  their  communities.  In  the  south  intol- 
erance was  quite  as  strong  as  in  New  England.  In  the 
seventeenth  century  Catholics,  Baptists,  Presbyterians,  Pur- 
itans, and  Quakers  in  Virginia  were  persecuted,  thrown  into 
prison,  banished  and  harassed  by  vexatious  laws,  while  at  the 
outbreak  of  the  French  and  Indian  War  an  act  was  passed 
disarming  all  Catholics,  as  in  Pennsylvania,  on  account  of 
a  popular  belief  that  they  were  in  sympathy  with  the  French. 
Non-conformists  meetings  were  broken  up  and  their  ad- 
herents expelled  from  the  colony.  But  no  amount  of  perse- 
cution could  break  up  the  dissenters ;  only  a  handful  at  first, 
they  largely  outnumbered  the  Episcopalians  at  the  time  of 
the  Revolution. 

It  was  a  singular  fact  that  the  British  Government  never 
established  an  episcopate  in  America,  nor  ever  appointed 
a  bishop  for  the  colonies.  Repeated  efforts  were  made  to 
induce  the  government  of  England  to  send  over  a  bishop 
and  otherwise  aid  the  Virginia  churches,  but  to  no  avail.50 
They  remained  until  the  Revolution  attached  to  the  diocese 
of  London,  and  were  often  supplied  with  discarded  English 
clergymen  who  were  not  wanted  at  home.  As  a  conse- 
quence the  Episcopal  clergy,  in  addition  to  their  intellectual 
inferiority,  were  often  dissolute  and  worthless,  and  there 
was  no  bishop  nearer  than  London  to  encourage,  admonish 
or  discipline  them.     The  Bishop  of  London  had,  it  is  true, 

so  Campbell,  "  History  of  Virginia,"  p.  251. 


Copyright,  1905,  by  John  D.  Morris  &  Company 

Quaker  Trials 
After  a  drawing  by  A.  C.   Reinhardt 


COLONIAL    LIFE  259 


"  commissaries  in  America,  but  they  had  no  power  to 
restrain  or  punish  their  erring  brethren,  and  could  only 
report  what  came  under  their  observation.  The  good  Bishop 
Meade,  in  his  memoirs,  constantly  complains  of  the  worldli- 
ness  and  incompetency  of  the  clergy.  They  were  altogether 
too  fond,  he  says,  of  horse-racing,  gambling,  card-playing, 
hunting,  drinking,  and  were,  besides,  profane  swearers, 
brawlers,  and  licentious.  "  One  of  them,"  says  Bishop 
Meade,  "  was  for  years  president  of  a  jockey  club;  another 
fought  a  duel  in  sight  of  the  very  church  in  which  he  had 
performed  the  solemn  offices  of  religion;  another  quarreled 
with  his  vestry  violently,  and  on  the  next  Sunday  preached 
from  the  words  of  Nehemiah :  '  And  I  contended  with  them, 
and  cursed  them,  and  smote  certain  of  them,  and  plucked  out 
their  hair.' " 51  So  low,  in  fact,  did  the  clergy  sink 
that  by  acts  of  the  legislature  of  Virginia,  passed  in 
1669  and  1705,  the  customary  exemption  of  clergymen  from 
the  operation  of  the  laws  against  infidelity,  blasphemy, 
swearing,  Sabbath-breaking,  and  adultery  was  withdrawn 
and  they  were  made  subject  to  the  penalties  of  the 
law  for  such  offenses.52  Not  a  few  of  the  clergy,  how- 
ever, remained  steadfast,  were  worthy,  pious  leaders,  and 
enjoyed  the  respect  and  admiration  of  the  people;  but  they 
were  exceptions  to  the  general  character  of  the  clergy.  On 
account  of  the  failure  of  the  Crown  to  appoint  a  bishop  for 
the  colonies,  no  native-born  American  could  be  ordained  as  a 
minister  without  incurring  the  long  delays  and  indescribable 
discomforts  of  a  journey  across  the  Atlantic.  In  other  re- 
spects candidates  for  ordination  were  compelled  to  face 
difficulties  which  were  enough  to  have  discouraged  the  most 
zealous  of  churchmen.53 

5i "  Old  Churches  and  Families  of  Virginia,"  pp.  14-18. 
52  Hening,  "  Statutes  of  Virginia,"  vol.  iii.  pp.  171,  358. 
68  Trevelyan,  "  The  American  Revolution,"  p.  288. 


260  THE    UNITED    STATES 

The  Episcopal  clergy  were  generally  remunerated  in 
kind,  usually  a  stipulated  quantity  of  tobacco,  often 
supplemented  by  fees.  In  1748  the  amount  was  fixed 
by  the   Virginia  legislature   at   16,000   pounds,  including 


Patrick  Henry 

By  Thomas  Sully.     At  present  preserved  in  Richmond, 
Virginia 

a  glebe  and  a  parsonage.  The  cash  equivalent,  of  course, 
varied  with  the  quality  of  the  tobacco  and  the  state 
of  the  market,  but  at  the  time  it  was  estimated  to  be  <£400 
at  sixpence  per  pound.  In  consequence  of  bad  crops  and 
heavy  taxes  on  account  of  the  French  and  Indian  War  the 
legislature  in  1758  enacted  the  so-called  "  Two-Penny  Act," 


COLONIAL    LIFE  261 

providing  that  all  debts  payable  in  tobacco  might,  at  the 
option  of  the  debtor,  be  discharged  in  money  at  the  rate  of 
£18  and  8d.  per  one  hundred  pounds  of  tobacco,  thus  in 
effect  reducing  the  salary  of  the  clergy  by  two-thirds.  In 
view  of  the  early  rise  of  the  price  of  tobacco  the  act  was 
clearly  unjust  to  the  clergy,  as  well  as  to  others  whose  salaries 
were  payable  in  tobacco,  and  they  lost  no  time  in  seeking 
relief  in  the  courts.  In  due  course  the  "  Two-Penny  Law  " 
was  held  to  be  invalid  and  it  was  generally  believed  that  the 
jury  would  award  damages  to  the  plaintiffs.  But  at  this 
juncture  Patrick  Henry,  a  young,  obscure  country  lawyer, 
whose  past  life  had  been  a  virtual  failure,  appeared  for  the 
defendants  and  delivered  a  speech  which  at  once  raised  him 
to  the  front  rank  of  American  orators.  After  he  had  con- 
cluded, the  jury  rendered  a  verdict  assessing  the  damages  at 
one  penny.  The  clergy  attempted  no  further  suits,  but 
waited  for  relief  from  a  wiser  legislature.  The  persistence 
of  the  clergy  in  attacking  the  act  of  the  legislature  had  the 
effect  of  still  further  arousing  public  sentiment  against  them, 
for  it  was  now  asserted  that  they  had  no  sympathy  with  the 
people  in  their  poverty  and  burdens,  but  were  only  concerned 
with  their  own  enrichment. 


MEANS   OF   TRAVEL,   SOCIAL    CUSTOMS   AND   CRIME 

Compared  with  conditions  to-day,  life  in  the  colonies 
was  extremely  narrow  and  monotonous.  There  was  an  iso- 
lation and  stagnation  about  it  which  would  be  intolerable  to 
the  twentieth  century.  Each  community  was  a  life  unto 
itself;  it  was  to  a  large  degree  self-sufficing  as  a  matter  of 
necessity,  for  means  of  intercourse  were  crude  and  imper- 
fect.    There  were  no  railroads  in  existence  and  travel  by 


THE    UNITED    STATES 

sailboat  was  not  always  convenient  or  possible,  and  besides 
it  was  too  uncertain  to  rely  upon.  Travel  by  horseback  or 
stage-coach  was,  therefore,  the  chief  alternative.  Besides 
indescribable  discomforts  and  hardships,  there  was  the  ele- 
ment of  time  involved.  In  1756  the  first  regular  stage  be- 
tween New  York  and  Philadelphia  was  established.  It  re- 
quired three  days  to  make  the  trip,  and  four  days  more  to 
extend  the  journey  to  Boston.54  Something  of  a  sensation 
was  caused  in  1765  by  the  announcement  that  a  coach, 
described  as  "a  good  wagon  with  seats  on  springs,"  would 
thereafter  make  the  journey  between  Philadelphia  and  New 
York  in  two  days,  and  at*  the  low  cost  of  twenty  shillings 
for  the  through  trip.  This  record  seemed  so  marvelous  that 
the  vehicle  was  popularly  dubbed  a  "  flying  machine." 
Ordinarily  the  conveyances  were  shackling  old  vehicles 
drawn  by  jaded  and  ill- fed  horses.  In  dry  weather  and  on 
the  best  roads  they  made  from  thirty  to  forty  miles  per  day, 
at  other  times  rarely  more  than  twenty-five,  and  only  by 
frequent  relays  could  this  rate  of  speed  be  kept  up.  The 
tired  passengers,  after  a  restless  night  in  a  tavern,  were  called 
up  at  four  in  the  morning  by  the  sound  of  the  driver's 
horn.  At  steep  hillsides  and  mudholes  the  passengers  were 
required  to  alight  and  help  the  heavy  vehicle  over.  The 
hardships  and  dangers  of  crossing  large  rivers  in  unsafe 
ferryboats  often  deterred  many  from  traveling  and  were  a 
source  of  anxiety  to  the  friends  of  those  who  did.  Greater 
still  were  the  difficulties  of  ocean  travel.  It  required  months 
to  cross  the  Atlantic,  and  news  of  events  in  the  old  country 
was  ancient  history  when  it  reached  the  remote  settlements 
of  America.  Nothing  but  the  most  urgent  business  in 
Europe  could  induce  an  American  to  undertake  such  a 
journey. 

At  first  there  were  no  postal  facilities  except  such  as 

64  McMaster,  "  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  i.  p.  44. 


COLONIAL    LIFE  263 

were  supplied  by  private  enterprise.  Letters  from  abroad 
were  delivered  at  the  wharf  to  those  who  called  for  them  or 
sent  to  a  nearby  store  or  coffee-house  for  delivery  whenever 
requested.  The  colony  of  Massachusetts  apparently  was 
the  first  to  take  steps  looking  to  the  establishment  of  a 
postal  system  under  government  control.  In  1639  the  Gen- 
eral Court  enacted  the  following  law:  "  It  is  ordered  that 
notice  be  given  that  Richard  Fairbanks  his  house  in  Boston 
is  the  place  appointed  for  all  letters  which  are  brought  from 
beyond  the  seas,  or  are  to  be  sent  thither  to  be  left  with  him; 
and  he  is  to  take  care  that  they  are  to  be  delivered,  or  sent 
according  to  directions;  and  he  shall  be  allowed  for  every 
letter  a  penny,  and  he  must  answer  all  miscarriages  through 
his  own  neglect  in  this  kind,  provided  that  no  man  shall  be 
compelled  to  bring  his  letters  thither  except  he  please." 
Toward  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  colonial 
government  of  New  York  established  a  monthly  mail  be- 
tween the  towns  of  New  York  and  Boston.  In  1692  the 
Virginia  legislature  passed  an  Act  reciting  that  one  Thomas 
Neale  had  been  empowered  by  letters  patent  from  William 
and  Mary  to  take  charge  of  the  postal  business  of  the  col- 
onies. Neale's  patent  authorized  him  "  to  erect,  settle  and 
establish  offices  in  America  for  the  receiving  and  dispatch- 
ing away  letters  and  packquettes,"  and  to  appoint  such 
assistants  as  were  necessary  to  aid  him.  This  patent  created 
the  first  intercolonial  postal  service.  The  charges  for  carry- 
ing a  letter  ranged  from  4d  to  15d,  according  to  the  distance. 
Benjamin  Franklin  was  in  a  sense  the  father  of  the  Amer- 
ican postal  system.  In  1753  he  received,  with  William 
Hunter,  a  royal  commission  as  deputy  postmaster-general 
for  the  colonies,  and  he  at  once  proceeded  to  organize  the 
service  and  made  a  tour  of  personal  inspection,  visiting  every 
post  office  in  the  colonies  except  that  at  Charleston.  Frank- 
lin established  a  regular  system  of  offices  and  carriers,  with 


264  THE    UNITED    STATES 

a  schedule  of  postage  averaging  a  penny  for  about  thirty 
miles.  He  adopted  the  practice  of  requiring  subscribers 
to  pay  for  having  newspapers  carried,  and  "  advertised  "  un- 
called for  letters  and  established  three  mails  per  week  during 
the  summer  season  between  New  York  and  Philadelphia.55 

The  post  office  department  was  soon  placed  on  a  paying 
basis,  and  by  1774  it  was  yielding  a  clear  annual  revenue  of 
three  thousand  pounds  to  the  British  treasury.  In  the  latter 
year  Franklin  was  removed  by  the  home  government  on  ac- 
count of  his  activity  in  the  Revolutionary  movement,  but  in 
the  following  year  was  unanimously  appointed  postmaster- 
general  by  the  Continental  Congress  and  authorized  to 
establish  a  line  of  posts  from  Falmouth,  Maine,  to  Savannah, 
Georgia,  and  as  many  cross  posts  as  might  seem  necessary. 
As  compared  with  those  of  the  present  day,  the  postal  facil- 
ities of  the  colonial  period  were  of  the  crudest  kind.  The 
rates  of  postage  were  very  high,  the  mails  were  slow  and  ir- 
regular on  account  of  the  difficulties  of  travel,  and  postriders 
and  postmasters  frequently  were  untrustworthy.  Letters 
were  not  infrequently  opened  and  read  by  the  postmaster, 
to  guard  against  which  important  communications  were 
often  written  in  cipher.  Newspapers  at  first  were  not  al- 
lowed to  be  sent  through  the  mail,  but  were  carried  by  pri- 
vate arrangement  between  the  sender  and  the  postrider. 

During  the  colonial  period  few  luxuries  of  the  present 
day  were  to  be  had,  and  the  same  was  true  of  many  articles 
now  considered  as  necessaries  of  life.  Everywhere,  how- 
ever, there  was  an  abundance  to  eat  and  drink,  and  the  evi- 
dences of  satisfaction  and  contentment  were  seldom  want- 
ing. In  New  England  social  life  had  a  Puritanic  cast  which 
found  its  fullest  expression  in  religious  services.  The  gath- 
ering at  the  "  meeting  house  "  on  Sunday  was  the  chief 
social  event  of  the  week,  as  the  sermon  was  the  principal 

65  Sparks,  "Expansion  of  the  American  People,"  vol.  i.  p.  64. 


COLONIAL    LIFE 


265 


intellectual  event.  The  regulation  by  statute  of  the  dress, 
daily  habits  and  social  usages  of  the  people  was  a  distinctive 
feature  of  Puritan  polity.  The  wearing  of  gaudy  or  costly 
apparel  did  not,  in  the  eye  of  the  Puritan,  comport  with 
good  moral  conduct,  and  it  was  therefore  forbidden  in  many 
New  England  com- 
munities. Thus  by  a 
statute  of  1634  the 
General  Court  of 
Massachusetts  for- 
bade the  purchase 
of  any  cloth  with 
lace  on  it  or  the 
making  of  a  dress 
with  more  than  one 
slash  on  the  sleeve 
or  adorned  with  em- 
broidery or  silver 
buckles.  There 
were  apparently  a 
good  many  prosecu- 
tions under  the 
act.56  By  a  statute 
of  1677  the  wearing 
of  gold  or  silver  lace 
or  buttons  or  silk 
ribbons  or  other  su- 
perfluous trimmings 

was  forbidden,  but  magistrates,  their  families  and  military 
officers  were  exempted  from  the  law.  Connecticut  forbade 
the  wearing  of  silk,  but  Rhode  Island  enacted  a  sumptuary 
legislation. 

56Weeden,  "Social  and  Economic  History  of  New  England,"  vol.  i.  p.  289, 


Copyright,  1905.  bj  John  D.  Morris  &  Company 

A  Puritan  Maiden-  and  Her  Escort 
Painting  by  G.   H.   Boughton 


266 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


Many  were  the  statutes  for  the  regulation  of  morals 
of  the  people.  In  Connecticut  these  regulations  were 
marked  by  such  extreme  severity  that  they  have  come 
down  to  us  under  the  name  of  the  "  Blue  Laws."  To 
mention  a  few  of  them:  no  one  was  allowed  to  give  lodg- 
ing to  a  Quaker  or  other  heretic,  to  walk  about  town  on  the 
Sabbath  day  except  reverently  to  and  from  meeting,  no  one 

could  travel,  or  cook 
victuals,  make  beds, 
sweep  house,  cut  hair 
or  shave  on  the  Lord's 
day,  nor  bring  cards 
into  the  colony,  nor 
dance,  nor  play  on  any 
instrument  of  music 
except  the  drum,  the 
trumpet  and  the  jews- 
harp.57  Many  innocent 
amusements  were  sup- 
pressed. Drinking  and 
smoking  were  placed 
under  strict  regula- 
tions. The  harboring 
of  strangers  and  even 
relatives  was  regulated 
and  sometimes  forbid- 
d  e  n  ,    and    outsiders 


m 

'J 

J  "1 

I  Jfa 

tk 

Copyright,  1905,  by  John  D.  Morris  &  Company 

Going  to  a  Party  in  Colonial  Times 
Drawing  by  A.  Forestier 

were  not  allowed  to  enter  the  colony  without  the  permission 
of  the  magistrates.  In  spite,  however,  of  the  austerity  and 
soberness  of  Puritanism,  human  nature  occasionally  asserted 
itself  and  the  monotony  of  New  England  life  was  enlivened 
by  corn  husking  and  quilting  parties,  spinning  bees,  house 
raisings,  sleigh  rides.     Thanksgiving  feasts,  militia  musters 

57  Weeden,  "  Social  and  Economic  History,"  vol.  i.  pp.  225,  272. 


COLONIAL    LIFE  267 

and  athletic  sports  of  various  kinds,  often  followed  by  the 
drinking  of  rum.  As  time  passed  the  old  restraints  upon 
amusement  were  relaxed  and  there  were  picnics,  tea  parties, 
and  even  dances,  horse  races,  and  bull  baitings. 

The  New  England  farmhouse,  with  its  scanty  furni- 
ture and  unattractive  exterior,  had  a  redeeming  feature  in  the 
great  fireplace,  around  which  the  family  gathered  during 
the  long  winter  evenings  to  read  books,  tell  stories  or  per- 
form various  domestic  duties,  such  as  wool-carding,  spinning 
and  corn-husking.  In  the  large  towns  of  New  England 
there  were,  of  course,  more  of  the  comforts  and  luxuries  of 
life.  The  houses  were  frequently  built  of  brick  or  stone  and 
richly  furnished  with  carpets,  silver  and  glassware,  tapestries 
and  mahogany  furniture  imported  from  England.  There, 
as  in  New  York,  there  was  a  gay  and  fashionable  society. 
The  people  dressed  handsomely  and  lived  luxuriously.  In 
New  England  towns  and  villages  were  numerous  and  sit- 
uated near  together,  mainly  for  the  purposes  of  defense  and 
convenience  of  worship. 

In  the  southern  colonies,  especially  in  Virginia,  social 
life  was  affected  by  the  existence  of  a  landed  aristocracy 
of  Cavalier  instincts,  among  whom  extreme  Puritanic  ideas 
scarcely  prevailed.  Plantations  were  large  and  towns  few 
and  insignificant,  in  spite  of  the  attempt  of  the  legislature 
to  create  them  by  artificial  process,  as  it  did  in  1680  by  the 
Cohabitation  Act,  which  ordered  towns  to  be  built  at  certain 
specified  places  for  the  benefit  of  trade.58  The  wealthy 
planters  stood  at  the  apex  of  the  social  pyramid.  They 
occupied  spacious  mansions  built  sometimes  of  imported 
brick  or  stone,  paneled  and  wainscoted  in  hard  woods,  with 
great  fireplaces  and  rich  mantels  and  furnished  with  an  ele- 
gance befitting  the  manor  houses  of  old  England.  They 
had  carriages,  servants,  blooded  horses,  packs  of  hounds  in 

68  Lodge,  "  Short  History  of  the  English  Colonies,"  p.  51. 


268  THE    UNITED    STATES 

abundance  and  enjoyed  to  the  fullest  the  few  luxuries  which 
the  times  afforded.  The  wealthy  planters  were  fond  of 
hunting,  horse  racing,  dancing,  gaming  and  other  amuse- 
ments, as  well  as  of  politics,  in  which  field  they  were  the 
leaders.  They  were  fond  of  drink,  and  in  this  respect  were 
not  far  ahead  of  their  fellow  countrymen  of  New  England. 
In  fact  drinking  was  common  in  all  the  colonies.  Every 
tavern  or  ordinary  inn  kept  liquor  for  sale,  while  every  well- 
to-do  householder  had  it  on  his  sideboard. 

The  liquors  most  commonly  drunk  were  rum,  beer  and 
cider.  A  peculiar  custom  was  the  practice  of  drinking  at 
funerals,  on  which  occasions  large  quantities  of  liquor  were 
consumed  by  the  mourners.59  Besides  being  occasions  of 
pomp  and  excesses,  funerals  were  expensive  affairs  on  ac- 
count of  the  custom  of  giving  presents,  and  the  practice  led 
to  the  enactment  of  laws  in  some  colonies  to  limit  the  expense 
of  burials.  The  wife  of  the  great  patroon  Stephen  Van 
Rensselaer,  is  said  to  have  been  interred  at  an  expense  of 

$20,000.  Two  thousand  scarfs  were 
given  away  as  presents  and  all  the 
tenants  on  the  manor  were  entertained 
for  three  or  four  days  at  the  expense 
of  their  landlord.     The  custom  of 

Pine    Tree    Shilling 

Earliest  coinage  used  in  the    heavy  drinking  at  funerals,  as  well  as 

present   United   States  the   practice   0f   giving   presents,    Was 

general  throughout  the  colonies,  but  it  was  carried  to  more 
extreme  lengths  in  New  York  during  the  Dutch  supremacy 
than  elsewhere.60 

While  drunkenness  was  probably  regarded  with  less 
disfavor  than  now,  there  was  in  other  respects  a  much  stricter 
code  of  morality.     Laws  against  crime  were  severe  and 

59  It  is  related  that  at  the  funeral  of  Mrs.  Cornelia  Van  Cortlandt,  mother 
of  General  Philip  Schuyler,  140  gallons  of  wine  and  two  barrels  of  ale  were  thus 
consumed.     Trevelyan,  "  The  American  Revolution,"  part.  ii.  vol.  i.  p.  280. 

eo  Lodge,  "  Short  History  of  the  English  Colonies,"  p.  338, 


COLONIAL    LIFE 


269 


many  offenses  were  capitally  punished  that  to-day  carry  a 
penalty  of  small  consequence.  Thus  blasphemy  in  Massa- 
chusetts was  made  a  capital  offense  in  1646.  Playing  in  the 
streets,  "  uncivilly  "  walking  in  the  streets  or  fields,  travel- 
ing from  town  to  town,  going  on  shipboard,  frequenting 
taverns  and  other  places  to  drink  were  forbidden  under 
severe  penalties.61  Furthermore,  the  manner  of  punishment 
often  tended  to  degrade  and  needlessly  humiliate  the  of- 
fender. It  was  the  custom  to  give  as  much  publicity  as  pos- 
sible to  punishments  in  the  belief  that  it  would  serve  as  a 
deterrent  to  other  evil-doers.  Criminals  were  branded, 
labeled  with  conspicuous  letters  indicative  of  their  offense, 
and  flogged  through  the  streets,  while  the  whipping-post, 
the  ducking-stool,  the  pillory  and  the  stocks  were  familiar 
objects  in  the  public  square  of  many  towns. 

si  Osgood,  "  The  American  Colonies  in  the  Seventeenth  Century,"  vol.  i.  p.  21  J. 


American  Stage  Coach 

From  "  Travels  in  America,"  Captain  Basil 

Hall.  R.N. 


Chapter   VII 
INTER-COLONIAL  WARS.     1690-1748 


king  William's  war.     i  690-1697 

THE  rivalry  between  Great  Britain  and  France  in 
America  had  been  steadily  increasing  for  many 
years  when  the  English  Revolution  of  1688  gave 
to  that  rivalry  a  new  turn.  The  bigoted  and  despotic  James 
II.  had  been  forced  by  his  subjects  to  abdicate  the  English 
throne,  and  the  crown  had  been  conferred  jointly  upon 
William  and  Mary.  James,  upon  abdicating,  fled  to  France, 
where  he  was  cordially  received  by  Louis  XIV.,  who  at  once 
espoused  his  cause  and  undertook  to  restore  the  exiled  mon- 
arch to  his  lost  throne.  War  accordingly  broke  out  between 
the  two  countries  in  1689,  and  soon  spread  to  their  colonies 
in  America,  although  none  of  them  had  any  direct  interest 
in  the  issues  involved.  In  Europe  the  contest  was  known  as 
the  War  of  the  Palatinate;  in  America  it  was  called  King 
William's  War. 

As  compared  with  the  English  possessions  the  French 
colonies  in  America  were  so  inferior  in  resources  and  popu- 
lation that  they  did  not  undertake  to  conduct  a  regular  cam- 
paign against  the  English,  but  resorted  to  savage  raids  and 
expeditions  for  the  purpose  of  harrying  settlements  and 
massacring  their  unoffending  inhabitants.  The  French 
population  in  America  probably  did  not  exceed  12,000  as 
against  100,000  English  settlers  in  New  England  and  New 
York.    But  the  French  had  an  invaluable  resource  in  their 

270 


INTER-COLONIAL    WARS  271 

Indian  allies,  who  were  well  fitted  by  nature  for  the  purposes 
for  which  they  were  employed  by  their  hardly  less  barbarous 
white  commanders. 

The  governor  of  Canada  was  the  aged  Count  Frontenac, 
the  most  distinguished  of  the  French  officials  in  America 
and  a  man  who  did  not  scruple  to  employ  whatever 
methods  were  available  to  destroy  the  English  colonists 
to  the  south  of  him.1  One  of  the  expeditions  which  he 
sent  against  the  English  settlements,  and  which  consisted 
of  one  hundred  and  ten  men,  a  considerable  number  of  whom 
were  Iroquois  Indians,  reached  Schenectady  in  February, 
1690,  after  traveling  over  the  snows  for  nearly  a  month,  and 
while  the  quiet  little  village  lay  wrapped  in  slumber  stealthily 
entered  its  unguarded  gates,  gave  the  war  whoop  and  began 
their  work  of  slaughter.  Sixty  of  the  inhabitants  were  mas- 
sacred, of  whom  seventeen  were  children,  many  were  taken 
captive  and  carried  off  to  Canada,  while  a  few  escaped  and 
fled  half -clad  through  the  snows  to  Albany.2  Another 
party  of  fifty-two  French  and  Indians,  commanded  by 
Hertel  de  Rouville,  fell  upon  the  village  of  Salmon  Falls, 
New  Hampshire,  burned  many  of  its  houses,  massacred  a 
goodly  number  of  the  inhabitants  and  carried  off  fifty- four 
prisoners,  mainly  women  and  children.  The  towns  of  Dover, 
Casco  and  Pemaquid  were  subjected  to  similar  cruelties  and 
barbarities. 

In  consequence  of  the  general  alarm  to  which  these 
events  gave  rise  a  colonial  congress  was  called,  mainly 
through  the  initiation  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Court. 
It  met  at  New  York  in  May,  1690,  commissioners  being 
present  from  the  colonies  of  Massachusetts,  Plymouth,  Con- 
necticut and  New  York.     The  congress  took  into  consider- 

iParkman,    "The   Struggle    for    a    Continent,"   edited   by   Edgar,   p.    233; 
Greene,  "  Provincial  America,"  p.  121. 

2  Bancroft,  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  ii.  p.  180. 


Ti%  THE    UNITED    STATES 

ation  the  state  of  affairs  occasioned  by  the  French  and  Indian 
massacres  and  decided  to  make  an  attempt  to  conquer  Can- 
ada by  sending  an  army  overland  to  attack  Montreal  and  a 
fleet  by  sea  .to  capture  Quebec.  Sir  William  Phipps  took 
command  of  the  fleet,  consisting  of  thirty-four  vessels, 
furnished  by  Massachusetts  and  manned  by  two  thousand 
of  her  citizens.3  Within  less  than  a  month  from  the  adjourn- 
ment of  the  congress  Phipps  had  taken  Port  Royal  (now 
Annapolis),  but  in  the  following  year  it  was  retaken  by  the 
French. 

On  October  16  the  fleet  reached  Quebec,  and  Phipps 
made  a  pompous  demand  upon  Governor  Frontenac  for 
its  surrender  and  gave  him  an  hour  for  an  answer, 
saying  "If  you  refuse  forthwith  to  do,  I  am  come, 
provided,  and  am  resolved,  by  the  help  of  God,  to  revenge 
all  wrongs  and  injuries  offered  and  bring  you  under  sub- 
jection to  the  Crown  of  England,  and,  when  too  late,  make 
you  wish  you  had  accepted  of  the  favor  tendered."  Fronte- 
nac immediately  informed  the  messenger  who  delivered  the 
demand  that  he  did  not  recognize  King  William;  that  he 
knew  no  king  of  England  except  King  James,  and  that  he 
would  answer  Phipps's  demand  only  by  the  mouth  of  his 
cannon.4  Phipps  was  not  able  to  carry  out  his  threat. 
Quebec  was  strongly  fortified  and  well  garrisoned,  while 
Phipps's  vessels  were  small  wooden  craft  and  manned  by 
inexperienced  gunners,  as  subsequent  events  showed.  A 
plan  of  attack,  however,  was  arranged  and  the  fort  was  bom- 
barded, but  without  effect.  Thereupon  the  fleet  weighed  an- 
chor, sailed  away  and  returned  to  Boston  in  November,  after 
having  been  badly  scattered  by  storm  and  many  of  the  men 
lost.  All  was  now  dismay  and  gloom  in  Boston.  The  colony 
was  already  impoverished  and  burdened  with  debt,  and  now 

3  Bancroft,  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  ii.  p.  181. 

*  Parkman,  "  Count  Frontenac  and  New  France  under  Louis  XIV.,"  ch.  xiii. 


INTER-COLONIAL    WARS  278 

it  was  compelled  for  the  first  time  in  its  history  to  issue  paper 
currency  with  which  to  pay  clamorous  soldiers  and  sailors 
whose  services  had  resulted  only  in  failure  and  disaster.  The 
land  force  sent  against  Montreal  met  with  no  better  success, 
and  after  being  repelled  by  Frontenac,  it  returned  to  New 
York. 

All  attempts  at  offensive  war  were  now  given  up, 
and  the  disappointed,  impoverished  colonists  contented 
themselves  with  defending  their  frontiers  as  best  they  could 
against  the  barbarous  incursions  of  the  enemy.  For  several 
years  longer  the  war  dragged  on.  In  January,  1692,  a  band 
of  French  and  Indians  came  down  on  snowshoes  from 
Canada  and  fell  upon  the  town  of  York,  Maine,  sacked  the 
place  and  offered  the  inhabitants  the  choice  between  captiv- 
ity or  death.  In  the  following  year  a  village  in  New  Hamp- 
shire was  destroyed  and  ninety- four  of  its  inhabitants  killed 
or  carried  away.  Various  other  New  England  villages  suf- 
fered similar  and  even  worse  fates.  A  familiar  story  of  the 
barbarity  of  the  enemy,  one  which  illustrates  the  heroism 
of  the  English  settlers,  is  that  of  Hannah  Dustin,  the  wife  of 
a  farmer  near  Haverhill,  Massachusetts,  who,  having  seen 
her  house  burned  and  her  children  murdered  by  savages  in 
the  French  service,  and  having  been  herself  carried  off  into 
captivity,  killed  and  scalped  ten  of  her  captors  while  they 
lay  asleep,  and  finally  made  her  escape  and  returned  home.5 
At  last,  in  1697,  this  unrighteous  war,  which  had  brought  only 
disaster,  sorrow  and  desolation  to  the  English  settlements  in 
America,  was  ended  by  the  treaty  of  Ryswick.  The  only 
provision  was  that  which  called  for  the  restoration  of 
Acadia  to  France. 

5  Bancroft,  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  ii.  p.  182. 


274 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


II 

QUEEN  ANNE'S  WAR.      1702-1714 

The  peace  of  Ryswick  proved  to  be  only  a  truce.  Within 
four  years  after  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty  England  and 
France  were  again  at  war,  and  the  conflict  of  necessity  ex- 
tended to  their  colonial  settlements  in  America.  In  Europe 
the  contest  was  known  as  the  War  of  the  Spanish  Succes- 
sion from  the  fact  that  it  grew  out  of  the  attempt  of  Louis 
XIV.  to  place  his  grandson,  Philip  of  Anjou,  on  the  Spanish 
throne.  Great  Britain  was  unwilling  to  see  such  an  enor- 
mous extension  of  her  old  enemy's  influence  in  European 

affairs,  and  so  went  to 
war  with  her  to  prevent 
it.  Although  her  col- 
onies in  America  were 
only  remotely  interest- 
ed, if  at  all,  in  the 
question,  they  were 
dragged  into  the  con- 
flict and  became  the 
chief  sufferers.  I  n 
method  and  results  it 
was  King  William's 
War  over  again.  In- 
stead of  regular  cam- 
paigns and  hard 
fought  battles,  there 
was  the  usual  harrying 
by  savage  red  men  and 
Versailles  Frenchmen  of  the 

English  settlements  on  the  coast,  and  the  massacring  of 
the  inhabitants,  irrespective  of  age  or  sex. 


Louis  XIV. 
From  a  painting  by  Jean  Gamier  at 


INTER-COLONIAL    WARS  275 

Early  in  1704,  in  the  dead  of  winter,  a  party  consisting 
of  about  fifty  Canadians  and  two  hundred  Indians,  accord- 
ing to  French  accounts,  commanded  by  the  same  Hertel  de 
Rouville  who  had  burned  the  village  of  Salmon  Falls  during 
William's  War,  after  journeying  nearly  three  hundred  miles 
on  snowshoes  through  the  vast  wilderness  lying  between 
Canada  and  the  Massachusetts  frontier,  fell  upon  the  peace- 
ful village  of  Deerfield  with  a  terrible  war  whoop  and  mas- 
sacred not  less  than  fifty  of  its  three  hundred  n  isuspecting 
inhabitants.  One  hundred  and  eleven  persons  were  carried 
away  into  captivity,  only  one-half  of  whom  ever  succeeded 
in  returning,  while  the  remaining  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
seven  escaped  with  their  lives  only  to  have  their  homes  de- 
stroyed by  their  barbarous  enemy.  Among  those  carried  off 
as  captives  were  the  village  minister,  Mr.  Williams,  his  wife 
and  five  children.  Mrs.  Williams  was  soon  put  to  death 
with  a  tomahawk,  but  the  others,  with  the  exception  of  a 
seven-year-old  girl,  were  subsequently  rescued.  This  girl 
grew  to  womanhood  among  her  savage  captives,  and  after- 
wards married  one  of  them  and  reared  a  family  of  children. 
Subsequently  visiting  Deerfield,  she  was  entreated  by  old 
friends  to  forsake  her  Indian  husband  and  children  and  re- 
sume her  residence  among  the  associates  of  her  childhood; 
but  this  she  refused  to  do,  and  returned  to  the  fires  of  her 
wigwam  and  to  the  love  of  her  Indian  children.6  During 
the  ensuing  years  of  the  war  other  towns  in  Massachusetts 
suffered  a  fate  similar  to  that  of  Deerfield.  One  of  these 
was  Haverhill,  a  village  of  thirty  cottages  and  log  cabins 
surrounded  on  three  sides  by  a  great  primeval  forest.  On 
the  night  of  August  29, 1708,  a  party  of  French  and  Indians 
commanded  by  de  Rouville  rushed  into  the  peaceful  hamlet 
and  began  the  work  of  massacring  the  .inhabitants.     Some 

e  Parkman,  "  Half  Century  of  Conflict,"  vol.  i.  ch.  iv. ;  Bancroft,  vol.  ii.  p. 
196;  Greene,  "Provincial  America,"  p.  145. 


£76 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


were  shot,  others  tomahawked,  while  still  others,  especially 

children,  had  their  brains  dashed  out  against  stones  and  trees.7 

Meantime  the  home  government  was  making  an  effort 

to  capture  Port  Royal,  which,  as  has  been  said,  was  taken  by 


Queen  Anne 
Painting  by  John  Closterman 

the  English  in  the  previous  war,  but  was  recaptured  by  the 
French.  In  1704  and  again  in  1707  a  fleet  from  Boston 
made  ineffectual  attempts  to  take  the  place.  Finally,  in 
1710  a  fleet  under  command  of  Colonel  Nicholson  was  sent 
over  from  England,  and  being  reenf orced  by  New  England 
vessels,  it  sailed  from  Boston  in  September,  and  in  the  fol- 
lowing month  succeeded  in  taking  Port  Royal,  which  w&s 

i  Bancroft,  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  ii.  p.  197. 


INTER -COLONIAL    WARS  277 

thenceforth  called  Annapolis,  in  honor  of  the  Queen,  while 
Acadia  was  renamed  Nova  Scotia.8  Encouraged  by  this 
victory,  Colonel  Nicholson  urged  the  home  government  to 
undertake  a  conquest  of  Canada.  His  recommendations 
were  approved  and  a  fleet  of  fifteen  warships  and  forty 
transports,  together  with  seven  veteran  regiments  from 
Marlborough's  army,  altogether  about  12,000  men,  were  sent 
over  under  the  command  of  Sir  Hovenden  Walker.9 

It  was  the  most  formidable  naval  display  ever  seen  in 
American  waters,  and  caused  quite  a  commotion  in  Boston. 
In  July,  1711,  it  sailed  from  Boston  for  Canada,  while  at  the 
same  time  a  land  force  consisting  of  militia  from  New  York, 
Connecticut  and  New  Jersey,  together  with  almost  six  hun- 
dred friendly  Iroquois  Indians,  set  out  from  Albany  for  the 
purpose  of  taking  Montreal.  Not  since  the  outbreak  of  the 
war  nine  years  before  had  the  hopes  of  the  English  colonists 
been  so  high  as  now.  But  they  were  soon  to  end  in  disap- 
pointment. After  considerable  delay  Walker's  fleet  entered 
the  St.  Lawrence,  but  instead  of  taking  Quebec,  as  his  gov- 
ernment had  a  right  to  expect,  the  timid  and  incompetent  ad- 
miral was  seized  with  fears  lest  the  freezing  of  the  river 
would  bring  his  ships  to  ruin,  and  he  accordingly  refused  to 
proceed.  Becoming  involved  in  a  dense  fog  near  the  mouth 
of  the  river,  a  number  of  ships  and  about  800  lives  were  lost 
through  his  blundering.  Thus  the  expedition  ended  in  fail- 
ure and  disgrace,  although  Walker  was  able  to  find  consola- 
tion in  the  reflection  that  the  wreck  "  was  a  blessing  in  dis- 
guise and  a  merciful  intervention  of  Providence  "  to  save  the 
expedition  from  the  freezing,  starvation  and  cannibalism 
which  his  imagination  had  conjured  up.10 

s  Parkman,  "  Half  Century  of  Conflict,"  vol.  i.  p.  148. 

o  Bancroft,  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  ii.  p.  200.  Parkman  says 
the  fleet  consisted  of  nine  ships  of  war  and  about  sixty  transports  and  other  ves- 
sels.    "  Half  Century  of  Conflict."  p.  163. 

.  10  Parkman,  "Half  Century  of  Conflict,"  p.  170, 


278 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


Few  episodes  in  American  colonial  history  are  more 
humiliating  than  this  expedition  against  Quebec,  and  many 
in  New  England  loudly  attributed  it  to  cowardice,  if  not  to 


jpi** 


A      T       C     A       at      t 


Map  of  Acadia  and  Adjacent  Islands 


treachery.11  Nicholson,  learning  of  the  failure  of  the  naval 
expedition  against  Quebec  while  in  camp  near  Lake  Cham- 
plain,  burned  the  forts  he  had  built,  marched  back  to  Albany 
and  disbanded  his  army  of  2,300  men.  Thus  far  only  defeat 
and  disaster  had  crowned  English  operations  in  America.  In 
Europe  English  successes  had  been  brilliant  and  numerous, 
and  now  that  both  nations  were  tired  of  fighting  peace  was 
concluded  by  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  April,  1713.  By  this 
treaty  the  "  five  nations,"  known  as  Iroquois,  who  had  been 
allies  of  the  English,  were  recognized  as  subjects  of  Great 
Britain;  while  Hudson  Bay,  Newfoundland  and  Acadia, 
with  its  "  ancient  limits,"  were  ceded  by  France  to  England, 
the  latter  territory  being  yielded  only  with  the  greatest 
reluctance  on  the  part  of  the  aged  French  monarch  who  made 

n  Greene,  "  Provincial  America,"  p.  160. 


INTER-COLONIAL    WARS  279 

strenuous  efforts  to  retain  this  favorite  province.  The  net 
result  of  the  war  was  a  real  advance  in  the  prestige  of  Great 
Britain  in  North  America,  and  a  serious  though  not  decisive 
defeat  for  France.12 


Ill 

king  George's  war.     1744-1748 

The  treaty  of  Utrecht,  like  that  of  Kyswick,  brought 
but  a  temporary  peace  to  Europe  and  America.  Its  great 
defect  was  that  it  did  not  settle  definitely  several  important 
questions,  the  settlement  of  which  was  absolutely  necessary 
to  the  future  peace  of  the  two  contending  nations.  The 
limits  of  Acadia,  as  well  as  the  boundary  between  New 
France  and  the  English  colonies  both  in  the  north  and  the 
west,  were  left  undetermined,  and  therefore  made  a  future 
conflict  inevitable.  The  next  thirty  years  were,  therefore, 
years  of  nominal  peace,  but  of  actual  smothered  war  in 
disguise.13 

While  France  was  forced  to  give  up  Acadia  she  was  al- 
lowed to  retain  Cape  Breton  Island,  which  commands  the 
entrance  to  the  gulf  and  river  of  St.  Lawrence.  The  French 
now  determined  to  fortify  and  garrison  the  place  as  a  means 
of  guarding  the  approaches  of  Canada  and  of  furnishing  a 
base  for  attacking  the  English  colonies  in  the  event  of 
another  war.  Accordingly  on  the  southeastern  part  of  the 
island,  at  a  place  well  chosen  for  its  strategic  importance,  a 
mighty  fortress  was  erected,  to  which  was  given  the  name  of 
Louisburg,  in  honor  of  the  king.  It  cost  not  less  than  six 
million  dollars,  and  was  twenty-five  years  in  course  of  con- 
struction.   It  was  flanked  by  solid  walls  of  masonry,  from 

12  Greene,  "Provincial  America,"  p.  165. 

is  Parkman,  "  Half  Century  of  Conflict,"  vol.  i.  p.  177. 


280  THE    UNITED    STATES 

the  tops  of  which  scores  of  cannon  frowned  and  was  alto- 
gether the  strongest  fortress  in  America,  with  the  possible 
exception  of  Quebec,  which  owed  its  chief  strength  to  nature 
and  not  to  art,  and  was  believed  to  be  impregnable  against 
attack. 

Scarcely  was  this  great  defensive  stronghold  completed 
when  France  and  England  were  again  at  war,  and  the  con- 
flict, as  formerly,  was  soon  extended  to  their  colonies  in  the 
New  World.  The  contest  which  now  broke  out  was  known 
in  Europe  as  the  War  of  the  Austrian  Succession.  In  1740 
the  Austrian  Emperor,  Charles  VI.,  the  last  of  the  male  line 
of  the  house  of  Hapsburg,  died;  whereupon  a  number  of 
the  European  powers  straightway  laid  claims  to  certain  of  his 
dominions,  although  they  had  solemnly  united  in  an  agree- 
ment to  respect  the  integrity  of  his  empire  and  recognize  his 
daughter,  Maria  Theresa,  who  had  succeeded  to  the  crown. 
As  a  result  of  this  policy  of  spoliation  nearly  all  the  powers 
of  Europe  became  involved  in  war  either  on  the  side  of  Maria 
Theresa  or  on  the  side  of  Frederick  of  Prussia,  the  chief 
claimant  to  Austrian  territories.  As  might  have  been  ex- 
pected, England  and  France  were  ranged  on  opposite  sides. 
It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  cause  of  the  war  between  these  two 
nations  did  not  grow  out  of  the  questions  left  unsettled  by 
the  treaty  of  Utrecht.  The  quarrel  over  these  questions  had 
not  yet  reached  a  climax.  The  present  dispute  was  a  Euro- 
pean dynastic  question,  and  although  the  American  colonies 
had  not  the  slightest  interest  in  the  issues  involved,  it  was  a 
foregone  conclusion  that  their  settlements  would  again  be 
subject  to  the  desolating  and  murderous  ravages  of  bands  of 
Indian  savages.  There  were,  however,  fewer  of  these  forays 
than  in  the  preceding  wars,  but  there  were  enough  to  keep 
the  frontier  settlements  in  constant  terror. 

Aside  from  these  incursions  the  great  event  of  the  war 
was  the  capture  of  Louisburg.     This  remarkable  military 


INTER-COLONIAL    WARS  281 

feat  was  conceived  and  planned  by  Governor  Shirley  of 
Massachusetts.  When  the  doughty  governor  proposed  the 
scheme  to  the  Massachusetts  General  Court  it  was  rejected 
as  utterly  impracticable,  and  the  legislature  refused  to  pro- 
vide the  necessary  funds  or  ships.  The  scheme  seemed  au- 
dacious, especially  as  an  undertaking  for  a  single  colony. 
But  the  indefatigable  governor  induced  the  legislature  to  re- 
consider its  action,  and  upon  reconsideration  it  decided  by  a 
majority  of  one  vote  to  authorize  the  undertaking,  a  rumor 
in  the  meantime  having  got  abroad  that  the  garrison  was 
mutinous  and  living  on  half  rations.  Shirley  invited  the  co- 
operation of  other  colonies  as  far  south  as  Pennsylvania ;  but 
favorable  responses  were  received  only  from  Connecticut, 
New  Hampshire  and  Rhode  Island.  The  governor  of  New 
Hampshire  agreed  to  furnish  500  men  provided  Massachu- 
setts would  pay  and  feed  150  of  them,  while  the  governor  of 
Connecticut  promised  as  many  more  upon  the  condition  that 
a  Connecticut  man  should  have  the  place  of  second  rank  in 
the  expedition.  Rhode  Island,  always  on  bad  terms  with  her 
more  powerful  neighbor,  grudgingly  and  rather  tardily  fur- 
nished 150  men.  Massachusetts  herself  furnished  3,300 
men,  making  altogether  about  4,500  men,  mostly  farmers, 
fishermen  and  mechanics. 

To  command  the  expedition  Governor  Shirley  chose 
William  Pepperell,  a  well-to-do  merchant  of  Kittery,  and 
the  selection  proved  to  be  most  wise.  A  little  fleet  of 
twenty  or  thirty  vessels,  carrying  not  more  than  150  guns, 
was  collected  and  placed  under  the  command  of  Cap- 
tain Tyng,  and  before  it  reached  its  destination  a  consider- 
able number  of  fishing  vessels  were  added,  and  to  these  four 
British  men-of-war  from  the  West  Indies,  commanded  by 
Commodore  Warren,  were  soon  joined.  Early  in  May  this 
motley  fleet  apeared  under  the  great  walls  of  Louisburg. 
Detachments  of  the  men  landed,  dragged  their  batteries  into 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


position  with  great  difficulty  and  laid  siege  to  the  mighty 
fortress.  On  May  7  a  summons  to  surrender  was  sent  to  the 
commander,  who  replied  that  he  would  answer  with  his  can- 
non. On  the  23d  of  the  month  189  of  the  American  force 
were  killed  or  captured  while  making  a  desperate  attempt  to 
take  a  battery  which  commanded  the  entrance  to  the  harbor. 
But  this  disaster  did  not  discourage  the  English.  More  can- 
non and  mortars  were  dragged  into  position  and  planted 
under  the  orders  of  Colonel  Gridley,  who  thirty  years  after- 
wards directed  the  fire  of  the  batteries  at  Bunker  Hill.  Un- 
der his  direction  a  deadly  cannonade  was  now  opened  upon 
the  island  battery  with  telling  effect.  Gradually  the  place  be- 
came untenable,  and  just  as 
Warren  and  Pepperell  were 
preparing  to  make  a  combined 
attack  the  fortress  surren- 
dered on  June  17,  1745, 
just  six  weeks  after  the  be- 
ginning of  the  siege.  On  the 
same  day  the  fleet  sailed  into 
the  harbor,  while  Pepperell 
with  a  part  of  his  army  en» 
tered  the  town. 

The  news  of  the  fall  of 
Louisburg  reached  Boston  a 
little  after  one  o'clock  in  the 
morning  of  July  3,  and  soon 
the  slumbering  town  was  astir 
with  shouting  crowds  whc 
were  induced  with  difficulty  to  believe  the  truth  of  the  report 
Great  demonstrations  of  rejoicing  were  made  in  New  York 
and  Philadelphia  and  a  general  thanksgiving  day  was  ap- 
pointed for  the  purpose  of  giving  expression  to  the  popular 
gratitude  for  what  had  seemed  to  be  an  interposition  of 


Sir  William  Pepperell 

Painting  by  Swibert,  in  the  possession 
of  Mrs.  Vanderhill  Budd 


INTER-COLONIAL    WARS 

Providence.  In  England  the  glad  news  was  received  with 
equal  joy,  and  Pepperell  was  made  a  baronet  and  Warren  an 
admiral.  But  the  news  caused  astonishment  in  France,  where 
it  had  been  said  that  Louisburg  was  so  strongly  fortified  that 
a  dozen  women  could  successfully  defend  it,  and  the  French 
king  refused  to  believe  the  report  so  long  as  there  was  a 
shadow  of  a  doubt.  That  a  handful  of  New  England  farm- 
ers and  fishermen  could  take  such  a  place  seemed  incredible. 
But  they  had  nevertheless  done  it.  It  was  more  than  the 
French  could  bear,  and  so  they  determined  to  make  a  su- 
preme effort  to  recapture  the  lost  fortress.  A  fleet  of  sixty- 
five  vessels  was  accordingly  fitted  out  under  the  command  of 
Due  d'Anville,  and  in  June,  1746,  it  sailed  for  America  to 
undertake  the  work  of  recovering  Louisburg.14  But  from 
the  first  the  fleet  encountered  unforeseen  difficulties,  and  soon 
after  its  arrival  in  American  waters  in  September  Due 
d'Anville  died,  his  successor,  D'Estournel,  committed  sui- 
cide, and  the  enterprise  resulted  in  failure. 

Undaunted,  however,  by  this  failure,  the  French  Gov- 
ernment fitted  out  another  fleet  under  La  Jonquiere  for  the 
conquest  of  Acadia  and  Louisburg,  and  in  May,  1747,  it 
sailed  for  America,  but  it  was  totally  defeated  by  an  English 
fleet  before  reaching  its  destination.  Six  of  the  ships  of  war 
were  captured,  and  a  large  number  of  its  men  taken  pris- 
oners, among  them  Jonquiere  himself.  Finally  both  nations 
tired  of  the  weary  and  barren  conflict,  with  its  enormous 
financial  burdens,  came  to  terms  of  agreement,  and  in  Octo- 
ber, 1748,  signed  a  treaty  of  peace  at  Aix-la-Chapelle.  It 
was  agreed  that  there  should  be  a  mutual  restitution  of  all 
conquests  made  during  the  war,  and  this  meant  that  Louis- 
burg would  be  given  back  to  the  French.  George  II.  is  said 
to  have  doubted  whether  it  was  his  to  give,  considering  the 
circumstances  of  its  capture  by  New  Englanders,  but  what- 

14  Parkman,  "  Half  Century  of  Conflict,"  vol.  ii.  p.  175. 


286  THE    UNITED    STATES 

ever  may  have  been  the  facts  as  to  this  point,  the  great  fort- 
ress was  quietly  restored  to  the  French  without  the  consent 
of  the  American  colonies,  and  of  course  to  their  great  in- 
dignation. This  act  increased  the  already  growing  dissatis- 
faction of  the  colonists  with  the  course  of  the  mother  country, 
and  was  doubtless  one  of  the  causes  that  eventually  led  to  the 
desire  for  separation.  Nevertheless  it  brought  about  tem- 
porary peace  and  gave  the  colonists  a  short  breathing  space 
until  the  coming  of  that  great  struggle  which  was  to  settle 
conclusively  the  question  of  British  supremacy  in  America. 


Chapter   VIII 
THE   FRENCH  AND   INDIAN   WAR.     1754-1763 

I 

THE  DISPUTE 

THE  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  like  those  which  pre- 
ceded it,  proved  to  be  a  mere  truce  in  the  long 
struggle  between  France  and  England  for  the  mas- 
tery of  North  America,  and  only  postponed  the  greater  and 
decisive  conflict.  The  vague  language  employed  in  the 
treaty  of  Utrecht  with  regard  to  the  limits  of  Acadia  had 
given  rise  to  a  boundary  dispute  between  the  two  rival  pow- 
ers, and  this  had  not  been  definitely  settled  by  the  treaty  of 
Aix-la-Chapelle.  The  English  claimed  that  Acadia  compre- 
hended not  only  what  is  now  Nova  Scotia,  but  the  immense 
tract  of  land  extending  westward  to  the  St.  Lawrence  River 
— about  twenty  times  as  much  as  that  conceded  by  the 
French  interpretation.1  In  pursuance  of  a  provision  in  the 
latter  treaty,  a  commission  was  appointed  for  adjusting  the 
rival  claims  of  the  two  powers  in  America,  but  after  sitting 
at  Paris  for  three  years  it  broke  up  without  reaching  an 
agreement  and  only  leaving  four  quarto  volumes  of  allega- 
tions, argument  and  documental  proofs  as  the  result  of  its 
labors. 

Meantime  the  dispute  assumed  larger  dimensions  by  thf 
claim  which  each  nation  now  put  forward  for  the  possession 
of  the  valley  of  the  Ohio,  and  the  conflict  was  precipitated 
by  the  action  of  France  in  attempting  to  occupy  the  territory 
in  dispute.    France  based  her  claim  to  the  Ohio  Valley  on  the 

i  Parkman,  "  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,"  vol.  i.  p.  12a 

287 


288  THE     UNITED      STATES 

ground  of  discovery  and  occupation.  French  explorers  had 
sailed  up  and  down  the  St.  Lawrence  and  Mississippi  rivers, 
and  had  made  their  way  along  the  shores  of  the  Great  Lakes 
from  Ontario  to  Superior.  The  principles  of  international 
law  as  interpreted  by  the  French  gave  them  a  right  to  the 
adjacent  country  drained  by  the  rivers  flowing  into  these 
bodies  of  water ;  that  is  to  say,  the  Mississippi  valley  extend- 
ing eastward  to  the  crest  of  the  Allegheny  Mountains.  Had 
this  claim  been  allowed  they  would  have  received  half  of  New 
York  and  a  goodly  share  of  Pennsylvania,  leaving  the  Eng- 
lish nothing  but  a  narrow  strip  along  the  coast.  The  in- 
choate title  thus  gained  by  discovery  and  exploration  was 
strengthened  by  the  establishment  of  a  line  of  forts  and 
trading  posts  which  extended  like  a  great  bow  from  Biloxi 
in  Louisiana  around  by  way  of  the  Great  Lakes  to  the 
mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  including  New  Orleans, 
Fort  Rosalie  (Natchez),  Chickasaw  Bluff s  (Memphis),  Ca- 
hokia,  Kaskaskia,  Chartres,  Vincennes,  Detroit,  Montreal, 
Kingston,  Quebec  and  eventually  about  fifty  others  of  less 
importance.  Another  line  of  posts,  more  recently  erected, 
and  intended  to  exclude  English  fur  traders  from  the  head- 
waters of  the  Ohio  and  the  region  about  Lake  Erie,  ex- 
tended southward  from  Lake  Ontario  to  the  forks  of  the 
Allegheny  and  Monongahela  rivers.  Most  of  these  posts 
were  garrisoned  by  French  troops,  and  were  relieved  at 
regular  intervals  of  six  years. 

The  British  claim  to  the  territory  in  dispute  was  based, 
first,  on  the  treaties  of  Utrecht  and  Aix-la-Chapelle,  the 
provisions  of  which  were  too  vague  and  uncertain  to  throw 
much  light  on  the  merits  of  the  controversy;  second,  on  the 
old  "  sea  to  sea  "  grants  by  which  the  western  boundaries  of 
the  English  colonies  were  made  to  extend  to  the  South  Sea, 
or  Pacific  Ocean,  these  charters  being  granted  prior  to  the 
French  settlements  in  the  Mississippi  Valley;  and  third,  on 


FRENCH    AND    INDIAN    WAR  291 

Indian  cessions.  By  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  in  1713  the  Iro- 
quois Indians  of  New  York  had  been  declared  British  sub- 
jects, and  at  various  times  during  the  forty  years  following 
bands  of  these  savages  had  made  raids  into  what  is  now  Ohio, 
Indiana  and  Illinois,  and  in  some  cases  had  driven  off  the 
native  tribes  and  killed  and  scalped  many  of  them.  Great 
Britain  claimed  the  right  to  the  lands  thus  "  conquered  "  by 
her  dusky  subjects,  and  in  1744  entered  into  a  treaty  with 
them  at  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania,  by  which  they  formally 
ceded  to  the  British  Government  an  indefinite  extent  of  these 
lands  situated  west  of  the  mountains.  Again  in  1752  another 
treaty  was  concluded  at  Logtown  by  which  Virginia  was 
given  the  right  to  erect  a  fort  at  the  "  forks  of  the  Ohio."2 
The  British  claims  were  quite  as  extravagant  and  un- 
founded as  those  of  the  French,  and  had  they  been  conceded 
the  French  power  in  America  would  have  been  restricted  to 
a  comparatively  small  territory  north  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
River.  By  the  middle  of  the  century  the  rivalry  of  the  two 
nations  for  the  possession  of  the  valleys  of  the  Ohio  was  be- 
coming acute.  Both  French  and  English  colonial  govern- 
ors made  urgent  recommendations  to  their  respective  gov- 
ernments to  take  steps  to  occupy  and  fortify  the  territory  in 
dispute.  The  French  Government  acted  first.  English  fur 
traders  from  New  York,  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia  were 
penetrating  the  territory  claimed  by  France  and  participat- 
ing in  a  profitable  trade,  which  the  French  insisted  should  be 
reserved  exclusively  to  them.3 

2  Winsor,  "  Narrative  and  Critical  History,"  vol.  v.  pp.  487,  490. 

3  "The  traffic  of  the  French  in  peltries,"  says  Parkman,  "was  far  more 
important  than  all  the  rest  together;  one  which  absorbed  the  enterprise  of  the 
colony,  drained  the  life  sap  from  other  branches  of  commerce  and,  even  more 
than  a  vicious  system  of  government,  kept  them  in  a  state  of  chronic  debility — 
the  hardy,  adventurous,  lawless  fur  trade.  In  the  eighteenth  century  Canada 
exported  a  moderate  quantity  of  timber,  wheat,  the  herb  called  ginseng,  and  a 
few  other  commodities;  but  from  first  to  last  she  lived  chiefly  on  beaver  skins."— 
"  The  Old  Regime,"  p.  302. 


292 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


Worse  still,  English  land  speculators  were  at  work  and 
English  emissaries  were  "  tampering  "  with  the  Indian  allies 
of  France.  To  expel  these  intruders  the  governor  of  Canada 
in  1749  sent  Chevalier  Celeron  de  Bienville  with  a  detach- 
ment of  Canadian  soldiers  and  Indians  to  the  junction  of 

the  Allegheny  and  Mononga- 
hela  rivers,  where  they  took 
formal  possession  of  the  re- 
gion in  dispute  by  nailing  the 
arms  of  France  to  certain 
trees  and  by  burying  leaden 
plates  with  appropriate  in- 
scriptions at  the  mouths  of 
various  streams  flowing  into 
the  Ohio.  This  performance 
was  enacted  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Muskingum  River,  the 
Great  Kanawha  and  other 
streams,  and  late  in  the  nine- 
teenth century  some  of  the 
plates  were  washed  up  and 
discovered  by  the  local  resi- 
dents.4 

Celeron,  having  thus  warned  all  intruders,  returned 
to  Montreal,  from  which  place  he  summed  up  his  opinion  of 
the  situation  in  the  following  words:  "  All  I  can  say  is,  that 
the  nations  of  those  countries  are  very  ill-disposed  towards 
the  French  and  devoted  entirely  to  the  English." 

Meanwhile  the  English  were  trying  the  scheme  of 
colonization   as   a   more   effective   method   of    frustrating 

*Parkman,  "Montcalm  and  Wolfe,"  vol.  i.  p.  48.  Much  earlier  in  the  century 
Gov.  Spottswood,  of  Virginia,  had  taken  possession  of  this  part  of  the  country 
in  the  name  of  George  I.,  by  burying  bottles  containing  proclamations  setting 
forth  the  facts  of  English  occupation.  Winsor,  "  Narrative  and  Critical  History," 
vol.  v.  p.  483. 


Celeron  de  Bienville 

From  the  painting  in  the  Chateau  de 
Ramezay,  Montreal,  Canada 


FRENCH    AND    INDIAN    WAR  293 

French  encroachments.  In  the  previous  year  (1748)  the 
Ohio  Company  had  been  formed  for  colonizing  the  lands  on 
the  Ohio  in  what  is  now  West  Virginia,  and  the  crown  had 
been  induced  to  grant  the  company  a  tract  of  500,000  acres, 
"  which,"  said  Governor  Dinwiddie,  "  are  his  majesty's  un- 
doubted right  by  the  treaties  of  Lancaster  and  Logtown," 
in  consideration  that  a  hundred  families  be  settled  thereon 
within  seven  years,  and  a  fort  built  and  garrisoned.  Among 
the  members  of  the  company  were  young  George  Washing- 
ton and  two  of  his  brothers.  Other  companies  were  formed 
and  other  grants  made,  so  that  by  1757  more  than  3,000,000 
acres  of  Virginia  lands  had  thus  been  granted  away.  The 
outbreak  of  the  war  soon  thereafter  put  an  end  to  the  ac- 
tivities of  these  land  companies,  so  that  they  never  had  an  op- 
portunity of  accomplishing  the  purpose  for  which  they  were 
organized. 

Soon  after  Celeron's  expedition  the  French  erected  and 
garrisoned  several  new  forts  in  the  disputed  territory  with  a 
view  to  checking  the  English  advance.  These  forts  were 
Presque  Isle,  on  the  site  of  the  present  city  of  Erie,  Pennsyl- 
vania; Fort  le  Boeuf,  about  twenty  miles  to  the  south  of 
Presque  Isle;  and  Fort  Venango,  still  farther  south,  near 
the  headwaters  of  the  Allegheny  River,  or  about  midway 
between  Lake  Erie  and  the  "  forks  of  the  Ohio."  A  third 
fort  was  planned  at  the  junction  of  French  Creek  and  the 
Allegheny,  but  was  never  erected. 


II 

PRELIMINARY  OPERATIONS 

The  continued  activity  of  the  French  alarmed  Gov- 
ernor Dinwiddie  of  Virginia,  and  he  decided  to  send  a  mes- 
sage to  the  commandant  of  the  fort  at  the  junction  of  the 


294  THE    UNITED    STATES 

Allegheny  and  Monongahela,  protesting  against  further  en- 
croachments. As  the  bearer  of  this  message  the  governor 
selected  Major  George  Washington,  at  the  time  adjutant- 
general  of  the  Virginia  militia,  and  who,  as  a  surveys  for 
Lord  Fairfax,  had  seen  something  of  western  Virginia  and 
of  life  on  the  frontier.  Early  in  November,  1753,  with 
Christopher  Gist  and  an  Indian  chief  called  Half  King  as 
guides,  together  with  French  and  Indian  interpreters  and  the 
necessary  number  of  servants,  Washington  set  out  upon  his 
long  journey  of  nearly  a  thousand  miles  for  the  "  forks  of 
the  Ohio."  5  After  a  month  or  more  of  perilous  journeying 
through  an  unbroken  wilderness,  over  the  mountains,  across 
swollen  rivers  and  encountering  heavy  snows  and  drenching 
rains,  Washington  reached  Fort  le  Bceuf  on  December  11. 

To  the  commandant,  Saint  Pierre,  the  governor's 
letter  was  delivered  and  an  answer  requested.  The  letter  ex- 
pressed "  astonishment  "  that  the  French  should  have  pre- 
sumed to  build  forts  on  lands  belonging  to  the  Crown  of 
Great  Britain,  demanded  to  know  by  whose  authority  Cele- 
ron's expedition  had  been  undertaken,  and  requested  the 
withdrawal  of  the  French  troops  from  the  newly  erected 
forts.  Washington  was  courteously  received  by  Saint 
Pierre,  who  promised  to  send  the  letter  to  the  governor  of 
Canada,  saying  that  until  an  answer  could  be  received  he 
would  remain  at  his  post.  Having  accomplished  his  mission 
Washington  set  out  on  his  return  journey,  which  was  full  of 
incident^and  peril.  On  pne  occasion  he  narrowly  escaped 
death  at  the  hands  of  an  Indian  who  fired  at  him  through 
accident,  as  his  assailant  pretended,  and  at  ""Another  time  he 
was  nearly  drowned  in  the  swollen  Allegheny  River  while 
crossing  on  a  raft.  Finally,  after  enduring  hardships  al- 
most incredible,  Washington  reached  Williamsburg  in  the 

sParkman,  "Montcalm  and  Wolfe,"  vol.  i.  p.  133;  Winsor,  "Narrative  and 
Critical  History,"  vol.  v.  p.  492. 


FRENCH    AND    INDIAN    WAR 


295 


middle  of  January,  1754,  after  an  absence  of  nearly  eighty 
days. 

Meantime  Dinwiddie  had  sent  a  report  of  the  French 
encroachments  to  the  British  Government,  and  had  received 
orders  to  demand  the  withdrawal  of  any  persons  presuming 
to  erect  forts  within  the  limits  of  Virginia,  and,  if  the  de- 
mand should  not  be  complied  with,  to  "  drive  them  off  by 
force  of  arms."    The  Virginia  legislature,  refusing  aid  at 
first,  finally  voted  ten  thousand  pounds  under  special  condi- 
tions to  enable  the  governor  to  carry  out  the  orders  of  the 
king.    Two  hundred  militiamen  were  called  out  and  placed 
under      the      command       of 
Joshua  Fry,  an  Englishman, 
and  a  graduate  of  Oxford,  as 
colonel,  with  George  Wash- 
ington   as     second    in    com- 
mand.6  Before  beginning  the 
march  a  party  of  Virginians 
had     been    sent    forward    to 
build  a  fort  at  the  forks,  and 
while    engaged  in   this   work 
were  driven  off,  in  April,  by 
a  French  force  which  demol- 
ished the  unfinished  fort  and 
began  on  its  site  a  much  more 
powerful     one,     which     was 
called  Du   Quesne,  in  honor 
of  the  governor  of  Canada,  the  Marquis  Du  Quesne.  Mean- 
time the  militia  was   on  the   march.    Roads   through  the 
wilderness  had  to  be  cut  for  wagons  and  artillery.    Streams 
were  forded  with  difficulty,  and  the  mountainous  character 
of  the  country  made  rapid  advance  impossible. 

In  May  the  army  reached  the  neighborhod  of  Ohio, 

e  Winsor,  "  Narrative  and  Critical  History,"  vol.  v.  p.  493. 


Gov.   Robert  Dixwiddie   of   Virginia 
From  a  photograph  of  the  original 
painting  owned  in  Scotland. 


296  THE    UNITED    STATES 

and  at  a  place  called  Great  Meadows  a  detachment  of 
the  militia  fired  on  a  body  of  Frenchmen  who  were  lurk- 
ing in  the  woods  near  by;  a  fight  ensued  and  the  French 
commander,  Jumonville,  and  nine  of  his  men  were  killed 
and  the  rest  of  his  force  captured.7  The  war  now  began  in 
earnest.  "  A  cannon  shot  fired  in  the  woods  of  America," 
said  Voltaire,  "  was  the  signal  that  set  Europe  in  a  blaze." 
Such  were  the  complications  of  European  interests  that  not 
France  and  England  alone  were  involved,  but  the  greater 
part  of  the  Old  World. 

After  the  skirmish  at  Great  Meadows,  Washington 
threw  up  intrenchments  at  a  place  which  he  called  Fort  Ne- 
cessity and  awaited  the  coming  of  reen  for  cements  from 
Colonel  Fry.  Before  they  arrived,  however,  Fry  had  died 
and  Washington  was  made  commander  of  the  regiment, 
which  consisted  of  about  300  men.  After  the  death  of 
Jumonville,  his  brother,  Villiers,  took  command  of  the  French 
forces,  which  greatly  outnumbered  those  of  the  English. 

On  July  4  the  enemy,  consisting  of  some  900  French 
and  Indians,  rushed  out  of  the  woods  yelling  and  firing 
their  guns,  and  at  once  began  the  attack  upon  the  Eng- 
lish. For  nine  hours,  during  most  of  which  time  the  rain  fell 
in  torrents,  the  fire  on  both  sides  was  kept  up  without  ceasing, 
but  with  the  approach  of  darkness  the  French  proposed  a 
parley.  The  English  were  in  a  bad  plight;  they  had  little 
ammunition,  their  muskets  were  in  foul  condition,  and  they 

*  The  precipitancy  of  the  attack  led  to  the  French  charge  that  Jumonville's 
death  was  the  result  of  assassination  rather  than  an  act  of  war,  and  through 
the  treachery  of  a  Dutch  interpreter  Washington  was  made  to  admit  this  in  the 
articles  of  capitulation,  which  were  drawn  up  in  French.  The  French  claimed 
that  the  party  attacked  was  simply  an  armed  escort  with  a  summons  from  the 
commander  of  Fort  Du  Quesne  seeking  an  interview  with  Washington.  But  the 
fact  is  the  French  had  been  lurking  several  days  within  a  few  miles  of  Wash- 
ington's camp  and  had  made  no  effort  to  deliver  the  summons.  Winsor,  "  Narra- 
tive and  Critical  History,"  vol.  v.  p.  493;  Parkman,  "Montcalm  and  Wolfe," 
Vol.  i.  pp.  148-9, 


FRENCH    AND    INDIAN    WAR  *i)7 

themselves,  were  half  starved,  and  drenched  to  the  skin  with 
rain.  In  this  situation  Washington  accepted  the  offers  of 
the  French;  two  officers  were  sent  to  confer  with  Villiers,  and 
presently  they  returned  with  terms  of  capitulation,  which 
Washington  signed  about  midnight.  The  terms  allowed  the 
English  to  march  out  with  drums  beating  and  with  the  honors 
of  war,  and  permitted  them  to  retain  all  their  property.  The 
loss  of  the  Virginians  was  twelve  killed  and  forty-three 
wounded;  that  of  the  enemy  being  somewhat  smaller.  The 
morning  after  the  surrender  Washington's  force  abandoned 
the  fort  and  marched  back  to  Will's  Creek,  fifty-two  miles 
distant,  while  the  French,  exultant  over  their  victory,  re- 
turned to  Fort  Du  Quesne.  Not  an  English  flag  now  waved 
west  of  the  Alleghenies. 

in 

RESOURCES  OF  THE  CONTENDING  BELLIGERENTS 

Before  proceeding  further  with  the  narration  of  the 
military  operations  of  the  war,  it  is  well  to  turn  aside  for  a 
moment  to  consider  the  character  and  resources  of  the  two 
belligerent  powers  in  America.  The  territorial  possessions 
actually  occupied  by  the  two  contestants  were  not  very  un- 
equal in  extent.  Great  Britain  controlled  the  Atlantic  Coast 
from  Maine  to  Florida  and  westward  to  the  watershed  of  the 
Allegheny  Mountains.  France  held  Louisiana,  the  Missis- 
sippi Valley  and  Canada.  The  French  population  in  America 
in  1754,  including  that  in  Louisiana  and  Acadia,  did  not  ex- 
ceed 80,000  persons,  of  which  about  55,000  were  in  Canada. 
The  population  of  the  English  colonies  in  America  was  not 
less  than  1,100,000.  This  disparity  of  population  alone  was 
an  immense  disadvantage  to  the  French,  but  it  was  to  some 
extent  offset  by  other  circumstances.  In  the  first  place,  the 
French  power  in  America  was  centralized  and  united.  There 


298  THE    UNITED    STATES 

were,  to  be  sure,  territorial  subdivisions  or  provinces,  buJ 
they  were  without  local  autonomy.  When  it  came  to  raising 
troops  and  supplies  the  governor  of  Canada  was  not  depend- 
ent upon  the  will  of  a  dozen  local  legislatures,  each  free  to 
vote  the  necessary  funds  or  withhold  them  as  it  pleased. 
The  king  had  but  to  command  and  the  French  colonies  acted 
as  a  unit,  a  condition  of  the  highest  value  in  the  prosecution 
of  the  war.  The  English  power  in  America,  on  the  other 
hand,  was  a  "  mosaic  of  little  republics,"  each  with  a  large 
degree  of  local  autonomy,  free  to  grant  or  withhold  supplies 
for  the  prosecution  of  the  war  as  its  sense  of  right  and  jus- 
tice dictated.  United  action  was  difficult  to  secure,  as  the 
appeals  of  Governor  Dinwiddie  to  the  neighboring  colonies 
clearly  showed. 

The  need  of  closer  union  among  the  colonies  for 
purposes  of  mutual  defense,  as  well  as  domestic  tran- 
quillity, was  strongly  felt  by  the  colonial  leaders,  and  in 
1754,  the  very  year  the  war  broke  out,  a  plan  of  union  pro- 
posed by  Benjamin  Franklin  was  laid  before  a  congress 
which  assembled  at  Albany  for  the  purpose  of  renewing  the 
treaty  with  the  Six  Nations.  The  plan  proposed  a  grand 
council  of  forty-eight  members  to  represent  the  various 
colonies  on  the  basis  of  their  respective  contributions,  no 
colony  to  have  more  than  seven  nor  less  than  two  members. 
The  members  of  the  grand  council  were  to  be  elected  by  the 
colonial  legislatures  for  a  term  of  three  years.  The  council 
was  to  be  empowered  to  provide  for  the  defense  of  the 
colonies,  the  apportionment  of  quotas  of  men  and  money, 
the  control  of  the  colonial  armies,  and  the  care  of  the  general 
welfare.  There  was  to  be  a  president  general  appointed  by 
the  Crown,  with  the  power  of  appointing  military  officers, 
supervising  military  affairs  and  vetoing  ordinances.8  This 
scheme  was  adopted  by  all  the  delegates  present  except  those 

8  Frothingham,  "  Rise  of  the  Republic,"  p.  143. 


FRENCH    AND    INDIAN    WAR  299 

from  Connecticut ;  but  it  seemed  to  the  colonial  assemblies  to 
give  the  Crown  too  much  power,  and  was  therefore  rejected. 
For  the  opposite  reason  it  found  just  as  little  favor  with  the 
home  government.  It  was  the  first  notable  attempt  to  bring 
about  a  union  of  the  English  colonies,  and  of  it  the  historian 
Bancroft,  well  says:  "  America  had  never  seen  an  assembly 
so  venerable  for  the  States  that  were  represented,  or  for  the 
great  and  able  men  who  composed  it." 

In  addition  to  the  advantage  which  the  French  derived 
from  the  character  of  their  political  organization,  the  power- 
ful influence  which  they  exerted  over  the  Indians  was  a 
source  of  incalculable  strength  to  them.  The  French  fur 
trader  in  America  had  been  followed  by  the  Jesuit  priest, 
and  while  the  one  bargained  with  the  savage  for  his  furs  and 
peltries,  the  other  sought  to  convert  him  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  faith.  The  French  explorers,  traders,  soldiers  and 
missionaries  placed  themselves  on  an  equality  with  the  red 
men,  lived  with  them  in  their  huts,  adopted  their  customs  and 
sometimes  married  Indian  squaws  and  reared  families,  ap- 
parently without  any  sense  of  degradation.  The  Indian 
fondness  for  display,  as  well  as  his  weakness  for  spirits,  were 
not  neglected.9  Their  festivities  were  participated  in  by 
Frenchmen,  and  it  is  said  that  no  less  a  personage  than  Gov- 
ernor Frontenac  himself  donned  their  uncouth  but  pictur- 
esque costume  and  engaged  in  their  dances.10  By  these  means 
the  French  gained  a  remarkable  ascendency  over  the  In- 
dians and  were  thus  enabled  to  enlist  them  as  allies  in  the 
war  with  the  British. 

The  Englishman  showed  his  unwillingness  to  treat 
the  Indian  on  a  footing  of  equality,  and,  moreover,  he 
lacked   the   resources    of   artifice   and   flattery    which   the 

9  While  Washington  was  at  Fort  La  Boeuf  on  his  mission  in  1753  he  says  he 
found  it  almost  impossible  to  prevent  the  French  from  seducing  Half  King 
by  means  of  gifts  and  brandy  and  winning  him  over  to  their  side. 

10  Sloane,  "  The  French  War  and  the  Revolution  "  p.  33. 


300  THE    UNITED    STATES 

French  turned  to  so  great  advantage.  Besides,  the 
Indian  realized  that  the  Englishman  wanted  his  lands, 
while  the  Frenchman  did  not,  and  consequently  cherished  a 
suspicion  of  the  former.  It  was  not  unnatural,  therefore, 
that  the  Indians  should  have  taken  sides  with  the  French  in 
the  war  that  now  ensued.  To  this,  however,  there  was  a 
notable  exception  in  the  case  of  the  Iroquois,  or  Six  Nations 
of  New  York,  who  withstood  French  influence  and  cast  their 
lot  with  the  British.11  This  was  due  to  two  causes.  In  the 
first  place  the  Iroquois  had  a  traditional  dislike  of  the 
French,  which  dated  back  to  the  year  1609,  when  Cham- 
plain  made  a  raid  into  Iroquois  territory  and  killed  some  of 
their  chiefs.  Secondly  there  was  a  bitter  hostility  between 
the  Algonquin  and  Iroquois  nations,  and  the  fact  that  the 
Algonquins  were  on  intimate  terms  with  the  French  led  the 
Iroquois  to  reject  the  diplomatic  advances  of  the  latter,  and 
to  become  allies  of  the  former.12 

With  all  their  hatred  for  the  French  it  is  extremely  prob- 
able, however,  that  the  Iroquois  would  have  yielded  to 
French  seductions  had  it  not  been  for  the  powerful  influence 
exercised  over  them  by  Sir  William  Johnson.  Johnson  was 
a  native  of  Ireland  who  came  to  America  in  1738  and  settled 
near  Schenectady.  Engaging  in  trade  with  the  Indians, 
he  soon  won  their  confidence  to  a  remarkable  degree.  He 
adopted  the  French  method  of  social  intercourse  with  the 
Indians,  became  a  master  of  their  language,  married  an  In- 
dian squaw,  and  was  elevated  to  the  rank  of  Sachem,  an 
honor  rarely  accorded  by  an  Indian  tribe  to  a  white  man.  In 
1744  he  was  appointed  by  Governor  Clinton  as  colonel  of  the 
Six  Nations,  and  when  the  war  broke  out  he  was  made  a 

11 "  Iroquois "  was  the  French  name  for  the  confederacy  of  Cayugas, 
Senecas,  Oneidas,  Onondagas  and  Mohawks.  In  1713  they  were  joined  by  the 
Tuscaroras  of  North  Carolina.  By  the  English,  they  were  known  as  the  "Six 
Nations"  after  1713.     They  called  themselves  Hodenosaunee. 

12  Sloane,  "  The  French  War  and  the  Revolution,"  pp.  34-35, 


FRENCH    AND    INDIAN    WAR  301 

major  general  of  British  forces.  He  used  his  influence 
with  the  Iroquois  to  turn  them  against  the  French,  and  to 
him,  more  than  any  other  man,  the  alliance  with  the  British 
was  due. 

IV 

braddock's  expedition 

The  English  authorities,  both  in  America  and  at  home, 
were  sorely  disappointed  at  the  result  of  the  affair  at  Fort 
Necessity,  and  at  once  began  to  devise  plans  for  retrieving 
the  disaster  and  driving  out  the  French.  The  Cabinet,  at 
the  head  of  which  stood  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  proposed 
to  take  rigorous  measures  to  insure  British  control  of 
Acadia  and  to  organize  three  expeditions  to  proceed  against 
Fort  Du  Quesne,  Niagara  and  Crown  Point  respectively.13 
Early  in  1755  a  fleet  was  dispatched  to  Virginia  with  two 
regiments  of  soldiers  under  the  command  of  Major  General 
Braddock  who  was  to  have  chief  command  of  His  Majesty's 
forces  in  America.  Braddock  had  seen  forty  years  of 
service  in  the  British  army,  had  gained  distinction  for 
gallantry,  and  meritorious  conduct,  but  he  possessed  per- 
sonal qualities  which,  to  a  large  degree,  unfitted  him  for 
military  service  such  as  he  was  to  see  in  the  mountains  and 
woods  of  North  America.  Soon  after  the  departure  of  Brad- 
dock with  his  feeble  force,  a  French  fleet,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Vaudreuil,  the  new  governor  of  Canada,  with  4,000 
soldiers,  sailed  for  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence. 

Braddock  arrived  in  Virginia  early  in  February,  1755, 
called  a  conference  of  colonial  governors  at  Alexandria  in 
April,  and  discussed  with  them  the  question  of  raising  men 
and  money,  and  plans  for  expelling  the  French.  This  done, 

issioane,  "The  French  War  and  the  Revolution,"  p.  40;  Winsor,  "Narrative 
and  Critical   HistorjV'  vol.  v.  p.  495. 


THE     UNITED      STATES 

he  assumed  command  of  the  expedition  and  entered  upon  the 
long  march  through  the  wilderness  to  a  point  on  Will's  Creek 
named  Fort  Cumberland  in  honor  of  the  general's  patron, 
the  Duke  of  Cumberland.  The  force  consisted  of  a  detach- 
ment of  British  regulars,  together  with  several  regiments  of 
provincial  troops,  whom  Braddock  contemptuously  referred 
to  as  "  raw  recruits."  He  further  showed  his  contempt  of 
the  provincials  by  issuing  an  order  which  withheld  from  the 
higher  American  officers  all  rank  when  regulars  of  the  same 
rank  were  in  the  field,  and  made  matters  worse  by  declaring 
that  whatever  incapacity  the  American  "  recruits  "  might 
exhibit  in  the  presence  of  savage  warriors  His  Majesty's 
regulars  would  be  more  than  a  match  for  them.  Neverthe- 
less, he  suffered  Washington  to  attend  him  as  aide-de-camp. 
After  a  weary  march  of  nearly  a  month  Braddock  reached 
Fort  Cumberland  in  May,  where  a  large  body  of  militia  was 
already  waiting.  Through  the  efforts  of  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin, who  had  preceded  Braddock  to  Will's  Creek,  the  neigh- 
boring farmers  had  been  induced  to  lend  their  wagons  and 
teams  in  large  numbers  for  the  transportation  of  supplies. 
After  a  rest  of  several  days,  during  which  the  militia  was  put 
through  a  rigorous  course  of  training  and  discipline,  the 
army  set  out  for  Fort  Du  Quesne,  one  hundred  and  thirty 
miles  distant.  Great  were  the  difficulties  of  that  march, 
for  there  were  no  roads  except  Indian  paths,  and  the  country 
was  an  unbroken  wilderness  covered  with  steep  hills  and  tra- 
versed by  rough  ridges.  A  force  of  five  hundred  axmen  had 
to  be  sent  forward  to  clear  a  wagon  road  and  construct 
bridges.  In  the  narrow  twelve-foot  road  thus  constructed 
the  army  slowly  made  its  way  over  the  mountains,  some- 
times drawn  out  four  miles  in  length  and  giving  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  gigantic  parti-colored  snake  trailing  through 
the  forest.14 

I*  Parkman,  "Half  Century  of  Conflict,"  vol.  i.  p.  205. 


Copyright,  1905,  by  John  D.  Morris  &  Company 


George  Washington,  at  the  Age  of  Thirty,  in  the  Uniform  of  a 
Virginia  Colonel 

From  painting  by  Charles  Wilson  Peale 


,       <     c  C     C  *    !  ,        •    , 

r:  tj       c   <■  t  c  t  c 


FRENCH    AND    INDIAN    WAR  305 

By  June  18  it  was  within  thirty  miles  of  Fort  Du 
Quesne,  but  was  advancing  scarcely  more  than  three  miles 
per  day.  Growing  impatient,  Washington  induced  Brad- 
dock  to  leave  the  heavy  baggage  behind  under  Colonel 
Dunbar  and  send  forward  1,200  picked  men  as  an  ad- 
vance corps.  By  July  7  this  body  of  troops  had  reached 
the  mouth  of  Turtle  Creek,  about  eight  miles  from 
Fort  Du  Quesne.  Early  on  the  morning  of  the  9th, 
when  the  army  was  within  five  miles  of  the  fort,  a  force, 
consisting  of  some  two  hundred  Frenchmen  and  six  hundred 
Indians  dressed  in  their  customary  war  paint,  was  sent  out 
from  the  fort  to  meet  the  English.  Concealing  themselves 
in  the  high  grass  and  underbrush  which  flanked  the  narrow 
roadway  near  the  ford  of  the  Monongahela,  they  waited  until 
the  advance  guard  under  Lieutenant  Colonel  Gage  had 
reached  a  convenient  point,  and  then  at  a  signal  from  a 
French  officer  they  rose  with  a  terrible  war  whoop  and  began 
to  pour  a  merciless  fire  right  and  left  upon  the  terrified  and 
demoralized  English  and  Americans.15 

It  seemed  to  the  astonished  English  that  the  woods 
were  swarming  with  savages.  From  behind  trees,  stumps, 
bushes,  branches  or  grass  and  crags  the  unseen  enemy 
poured  volley  after  volley  into  the  British  ranks.  As  soon 
as  Gage  recovered  his  equanimity  he  wheeled  his  men  into 
line  and  made  several  discharges  with  remarkable  steadiness. 
But  for  the  most  part  they  took  effect  only  against  trees  and 
stones.  When  Braddock  heard  the  firing  he  pushed  rapidly 
forward  to  the  aid  of  Colonel  Gage,  but  his  forces  were  soon 
thrown  into  the  utmost  confusion,  with  the  exception  of  the 
Virginians,  who  were  firing  upon  the  enemy  from  behind 
stumps  and  trees,  according  to  their  own  method  of  warfare. 

15  The  ambush  theory  is  questioned  by  some  authorities.  Thwaites  in  his 
"France  in  America,"  pp.  177-178,  says  "what  occurred  was  a  regulation  forest 
fight  in  which  the  French  and  their  allies  flanked  the  British  on  either  side." 


306  THE    UNITED    STATES 

Braddock  was  unaccustomed  to  the  Indian  manner  of  fight- 
ing, and  what  was  worse,  he  refused  to  adopt  it  upon  the 
advice  of  Washington,  and  expressed  disgust  at  such  un- 
military  conduct.  Dashing  to  and  fro,  apparently  oblivious 
to  every  thought  of  danger,  he  endeavored  in  vain  to  form 
the  regulars  in  line  and  to  prevent  them  from  breaking  ranks 
and  taking  advantage  of  the  trees  and  stumps.  Under  this 
pressure  the  regulars  stood  their  ground  for  a  brief  interval, 
firing  aimlessly  at  foes  whom  they  could  place  only  by  puffs 
of  smoke ;  but  finally  they  broke  in  confusion  and  fled,  their 
scarlet  uniforms  offering  excellent  targets  for  the  enemy. 
The  militia,  more  accustomed  to  the  war  whoop  of  the  savage, 
were  less  easily  terrified,  and  contested  their  ground  for  about 
two  hours,  during  which  time  the  regulars  were  mowed  down 
like  grain  before  a  reaper.  The  panic  was  indescribable. 
In  reply  to  Braddock's  entreaties  some  of  them  replied, 
:'  We  would  fight  if  we  could  see  anybody  to  fight  with." 
The  ground  was  covered  with  dead  and  wounded  soldiers, 
maddened  horses  rushed  neighing  about  the  field,  while  the 
roar  of  cannon  and  the  clatter  of  musketry  added  further  to 
the  terror  caused  by  the  hideous  yells  of  Indian  savages. 
Braddock's  courage  never  deserted  him.  He  was  always  in 
the  thickest  of  the  fight.  Four  horses  were  shot  under  him, 
and  while  dashing  forward  on  the  fifth  he  was  mortally 
wounded  by  a  bullet  which  entered  his  lung.  Carried  to  the 
rear  he  died  a  few  days  later  and  was  buried  in  the  middle  of 
the  road.  Washington,  too,  barely  escaped,  for  two  horses 
were  shot  under  him,  and  four  bullets  tore  his  clothes  to 
pieces.  Out  of  86  officers,  63  were  killed  or  disabled,  while 
of  1,373  men,  but  few  more  than  400  escaped  unhurt.  The 
losses  of  the  enemy  were  insignificant,  being  about  30  killed 
and  as  many  wounded.  Among  the  killed  on  the  English 
side  were  Sir  Peter  Halket  and  young  Shirley,  secretary  of 
General  Braddock  and  son  of  Governor  Shirley  of  Massa- 


FRENCH    AND    INDIAN    WAR  307 

chusetts.  Among  the  wounded  were  Horatio  Gates  and 
Thomas  Gage,  well  known  names  in  the  history  of  the 
Revolution. 

After  the  fall  of  Braddock  the  army  retreated  in  utter 
rout.  The  arrival  of  the  fugitives  at  Dunbar's  Camp  with 
the  tidings  of  defeat  threw  the  camp  into  commotion,  and 
orders  were  at  once  given  that  the  wagons,  stores  and  am- 
munition should  be  destroyed,  to  prevent  their  falling  into 
the  hands  of  the  enemy.  The  order  was  carried  out  and 
hundreds  of  wagons  were  burned,  scores  of  cannon  disabled, 
many  barrels  of  gunpowder  thrown  into  the  river,  and  large 
quantities  of  provisions  scattered  through  the  woods  and 
swamps.  This  done,  the  depleted,  disorganized  and  dis- 
heartened army  took  up  its  return  march  for  Fort  Cumber- 
land, sixty  miles  distant.  Thus  ended  the  first  attempt  to 
expel  the  French  from  the  Ohio  Valley. 


EXPULSION  OF  THE  ACADIANS 

rA  tragic  feature  of  the  war  was  the  expulsion  by  the 
British  authorities  of  the  Acadians  from  Nova  Scotia.  This 
province,  as  we  have  seen,  was  settled  by  the  French  in  1604, 
three  years  before  the  first  English  settlement  in  America, 
and  through  all  the  changes  of  a  century  and  a  half  it  had 
remained  largely  French  in  race,  religion,  manners  and  cus- 
toms. By  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  of  1713,  Acadia,  with  in- 
definite boundaries,  was  ceded  to  England;  but  the  treaty 
contained  a  stipulation  which  relieved  the  French  inhabi- 
tants from  taking  up  arms  against  France  in  any  war  be- 
tween Great  Britain  and  that  country.  During  the  forty 
years  they  had  lived  under  British  rule  they  had  increased  in 
numbers  and  had  become  prosperous  and  contented.     They 


308 


THE     UNITED      STATES 


were  a  simple-minded,  peasant  people,  thrifty,  frugal  and 
industrious,  lived  in  rustic  plenty,  and  were  deeply  attached 
to  their  homes.  But  notwithstanding  their  quiet,  peaceful 
habits,  they  were  a  thorn  in  the  side  of  the  British,  for  they 
were  British  subjects  only  nominally,  and  their  neutrality 
proved  to  be  ostensible  rather  than  real.  They  remained  de- 
voted to  the  Catholic  religion 
and  were  completely  subject 
to  the  influence  of  their 
priests,  for  the  most  part 
Canadians,  who  encouraged 
them  to  retain  their  native 
language  and  to  refuse  the 
oath  of  allegiance  to  the  Brit- 
ish Crown. 

Toward  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century  the  British 
Government,  fearing  that 
France  might  attempt  to  re- 
assert her  sovereignty  over 
Acadia,  sent  out  several  thou- 
sand settlers  and  founded  the 
town  of  Halifax  as  a  means 
of  strengthening  its  power  in  the  peninsula.  In  the  spring  of 
1755  a  British  fleet,  commanded  by  Colonel  Robert  Monck- 
ton,  arrived  in  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  captured  a  number  of 
French  vessels  and  expelled  the  French  from  this  region  and 
took  Forts  Beau  Sejour  and  Gaspereau,  the  only  places  of 
strategic  importance  on  the  isthmus  still  held  by  the  French. 
To  the  surprise  of  the  British  they  found  Acadians  with 
arms  at  Beau  Sejour,  fighting  on  the  side  of  the  French,  in 
violation  of  their  neutral  obligations.  They  had  thus  for- 
feited their  right  to  be  treated  as  neutrals,  and  so  something 
had  to  be  done  to  curb  their  French  propensities.    To  order 


Colonel  Robert  Monckton 
From  a  mezzotint  engraving 


FRENCH    AND    INDIAN    WAR  309 

them  to  leave  the  country  would  be  merely  to  drive  them  to 
Canada  or  Cape  Breton  and  thus  to  strengthen  the  enemy. 
To  place  garrisons  in  their  midst  to  enforce  their  neutrality 
would  require  more  men  than  the  government  could  spare, 
besides  the  entailment  of  a  large  expense. 

It  was  therefore  decided  to  remove  the  whole  population, 
root  and  branch,  from  the  province,  if  they  refused  to  take 
oaths  of  allegiance,  and  transplant  it  to  various  parts  of  the 
country,  in  such  a  way  as  to  destroy  all  possibility  of  its  ever 
giving  the  English  further  trouble.  It  was  a  harsh  decision, 
but  the  English  believed  it  to  be  justified  on  the  grounds  of 
military  necessity,  and  they  proceeded  to  carry  it  out  with 
a  severity  and  relentlessness  rarely  equaled  in  the  sad  his- 
tory of  warfare.  A  plan  for  treacherously  kidnaping  the 
unsuspecting  peasants  was  carefully  worked  out  and  kept  a 
profound  secret  from  them.  In  September  they  were  as- 
sembled under  false  representations  at  their  various  parish 
churches,  by  order  of  Colonel  Winslow,  when  the  king's 
proclamation  ordering  their  expulsion  was  read  to  them, 
after  which  they  were  surrounded  by  the  soldiers, 
made  prisoners  and  hurried  on  ships  that  lay  in  a  nearby 
harbor.  Families  were  not  infrequently  broken  up  by 
the  separation  of  the  husband  from  the  wife,  and  both 
from  the  children,  although  the  English  commanders 
endeavored  to  keep  families  together.  The  heartrending 
scenes  that  occurred  at  Grand  Pre  have  been  well  por- 
trayed by  Longfellow  in  his  poem  "  Evangeline,"  and  the 
whole  affair  has  been  charmingly  described  by  Francis  Park- 
man  in  his  "  Half  Century  of  Conflict."  Lands,  crops, 
cattle,  houses,  everything  except  their  little  money  and  house- 
hold goods,  were  forfeited  to  the  Crown,  and  to  insure  the 
starvation  of  those  who  fled  to  the  woods  the  growing  crops 
were  destroyed  and  the  barns  and  houses  burned.  Their 
beautiful  country,  smiling  in  the  autumn  with  well  culti- 


310 


THE     UNITED      STATES 


vated  gardens  and  fields  of  waving  grain,  was  left  not  only 
a  solitude,  but  a  desert.  Once  on  board  the  English  vessels 
they  were  carried  away  to  distant  provinces  of  the  British 
colonial  empire.    More  than  a  thousand  were  sent  to  Massa 


Copyright,  1005,  by  John  D.  Morris  &  Company 


"Then  up  rose  their  commander,  and  spake  from  the  steps  of  the  altar, 
Holding  aloft  in  his  hands,  with  its  seals,  the   royal  commission." 

— Longfellow's  "  Evangeline." 

chusetts,  where  they  long  remained  a  burden  on  the  public. 
Their  wretched  condition  of  course  excited  commiseration, 
but  the  New  England  horror  of  Roman  Catholicism  was  too 
great  to  make  the  exiles  welcome  guests,  and  they  were  re- 
garded with  suspicion.  The  governors  of  several  States  re- 
fused to  receive  them,  and  the  ships  bearing  them  were 
forcibly  turned  back.  Some  were  sent  to  Pennsylvania, 
some  to  far-away  Georgia,  and  others  to  the  West  Indies-  - 


FRENCH    AND    INDIAN    WAR  311 

altogether  about  7,000  being  carried  off.10  Many  resigned 
themselves  to  their  fate,  while  others  yearned  for  their 
former  homes  and  endeavored  to  return  to  Acadia  or  to 
Canada.  In  some  cases  the  colonial  assemblies,  only  too 
anxious  to  be  rid  of  Papists,  defrayed  the  expenses  of  their 
transportation.  Several  hundred  who  were  sent  to  Georgia 
built  rude  boats  and  tried  to  reach  the  Bay  of  Fundy.  Some 
were  sent  to  England  and  France,  while  some  made  their 
way  to  the  French  province  of  Louisiana,  where  their  de- 
scendants are  still  found,  constituting  a  numerous  and  dis- 
tinct population.  Of  those  who  were  deported  only  an  in- 
significant portion  ever  lived  to  see  Acadia  again,  while 
many  died  broken-hearted. 

It  is  difficult  for  the  impartial  historian  to  find  justi- 
fication for  so  severe  and  harsh  a  policy.  As  a  military 
measure  it  was  without  precedent  in  modern  times,  and  must 
always  remain  a  dark  spot  in  the  history  of  Great  Britain. 
It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that  the  provocation  of  the 
English  was  not  inconsiderable,  and  that  they  did  not  take 
this  extreme  step  until  every  resource  of  patience  and  persua- 
sion had  been  tried  in  vain  to  induce  the  Acadians  to  take  an 
oath  of  allegiance  and  preserve  a  neutral  attitude.  As  long 
as  they  remained  in  Nova  Scotia  they  were  a  source  of  per- 
petual danger  to  the  English  colonists,  and  kept  the  minds 
of  the  English  constantly  filled  with  a  feeling  of  insecurity.17 

10  As  late  as  1762  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts  turned  back  five 
transports  loaded  with  these  unfortunate  persons.  Winsor,  "Narrative  and 
Critical  History,"  vol.  v.  p.  417. 

it  Parkman,  "  Half  Century  of  Conflict,"  ch.  viii.;  Sloane,  "  French  War  and 
the  Constitution,"  pp.  46-48;  Winsor,  "Narrative  and  Critical  History,"  vol.  v. 
pp.   415-417. 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


VI 


ENGLISH  DISASTERS   AND    FAILURES 

The  disaster  at  Fort  Du  Quesne  was  a  sore  disappoint- 
ment to  the  Newcastle  ministry  and  caused  general  dismay 
throughout  the  English  settlements  in  America,  for  it  left 
the  people  of  the  middle  colonies  exposed  to  the  savage  raids 
of  the  Indians  and  their  French  allies.  They  were  quickly 
aroused  to  this  danger,  and  the  legislatures  of  Pennsylvania 
and  Virginia  at  once  appropriated  large  sums  for  defense, 
while  the  neighboring  colonies  offered  to  furnish  men  and 
supplies  to  the  extent  of  their  ability. 

Braddock's  defeat  also  spoiled  another  well-laid  scheme 
of  the  British  authorities — the  expedition  against  Fort 
Niagara.  This  place  was  the  center  of  the  fur  trade  in  the 
lake  region  and  constituted  an  important  link  in  the  chain 
of  posts  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  Ohio.  Governor 
William  Shirley,  of  Massachusetts,  with  some  good  regulars, 
militiamen  and  Indians,  had  already  undertaken  to  capture 
the  fort,  expecting  to  be  joined  by  Braddock's  army  after 
the  latter  had  taken  Fort  Du  Quesne.  He  had  set  out  from 
Albany  early  in  the  summer,  and  after  a  long  and  toilsome 
marth  through  the  wilderness  of  western  New  York,  reached 
Oswego,  on  Lake  Ontario,  with  the  expectation  of  embark- 
ing for  Niagara.  Here  he  fitted  out  a  number  of  vessels 
and  made  great  preparation  for  the  advance  on  Niagara, 
but  at  this  juncture  came  the  discouraging  news  of  Brad- 
dock's  defeat,  in  addition  to  innumerable  delays  occasioned 
by  heavy  rains  and  other  obstacles.  On  account  of  the  late- 
ness of  the  season,  therefore,  it  was  decided  to  abandon 
the  expedition,  and  this  was  accordingly  done  after  build- 


FRENCH    AND    INDIAN   WAR  313 

ing  a  fort  and  leaving  a  garrison  of  seven  hundred  men  to 
defend  it. 

It  now  began  to  look  as  if  the  first  year  of  the  war  would 
end  in  total  failure  so  far  as  the  English  were  concerned, 
but  fortunately  they  were  saved  from  this  by  a  victory  over 
the  French  in  northern  New  York.  As  has  been  said,  the 
French  fort,  Crown  Point,  at  the  south  end  of  Lake  George, 
or  as  the  French  called  it,  Lake  Sacrament,  was,  with  Du 
Quesne  and  Niagara,  one  of  the  objective  points  in  the 
British  programme.  It  stood  as  a  gateway  on  the  road  to  Can- 
ada, and  was  a  place  of  some  strategic  importance.  Wil- 
liam Johnson,  the  great  friend  of  the  Iroquois,  was  selected 
to  lead  the  expedition  against  the  fort,  with  General  Phineas 
Lyman  of  Connecticut  as  second  in  command.  Among  the 
officers  were  Israel  Putnam  and  John  Stark,  afterwards 
famous  generals  in  the  Revolution,  and  Colonel  Ephriam 
Williams,  the  founder  of  Williams  College.  Johnson  suc- 
ceeded in  raising  nearly  4,000  men,  mainly  New  England 
militiamen,  and  marched  up  to  the  shores  of  Lake  George, 
while  the  opposing  French  army,  consisting  of  some  3,000 
men,  including  700  Indians,  and  commanded  by  Baron 
Dieskau,  pushed  down  from  Montreal  and  made  ready  to 
attack  him. 

The  advance  guards  of  the  two  armies  met  on 
September  8,  at  a  place  some  distance  south  of  Crown 
Point,  a  battle  ensued,  and  Dieskau  was  defeated  and  mor- 
tally wounded.  His  troops  thereupon  fled  in  terror  back  to 
Crown  Point,  while  Dieskau  himself  was  taken  prisoner. 
The  loss  of  the  French  was  about  1,000  men;  that  of  the 
English  about  300.  Johnson  was  knighted  by  the  Crown 
and  given  £5,000  by  Parliament  as  a  reward  for  his  services; 
but  General  Lyman  of  Connecticut  claimed  the  chief  honor, 
on  the  ground  that  while  Johnson  lay  wounded  in  his  tent 


314  THE    UNITED    STATES 

he  forced  the  rout  of  the  French ;  however,  Johnson  did  not 
even  mention  Lyman's  name  in  his  report.18 

Although  receiving  reinforcements,  Johnson  made  no 
attempt  to  follow  up  his  victory  by  an  advance  on  Crown 
Point,  but  against  the  advice  of  Lyman,  timidly  suffered 
the  French  to  erect  Fort  Ticonderoga  near  by,  while  he 
withdrew  his  army  to  the  south.  He  was  accused  by  many 
in  New  England  of  incapacity,  and  apparently  the  charges 
were  not  without  foundation.  Thus  the  year  1775  ended 
with  the  outlook  for  the  English  anything  but  encouraging. 
They  had  sustained  one  overwhelming  defeat,  had  met  with 
utter  failure  in  the  Niagara  expedition,  and  had,  after  a 
decisive  victory  on  Lake  George,  neglected  to  follow  it  up 
and  reap  the  fruits  which  it  offered. 

The  next  year  (1756)  saw  formal  declarations  of  war 
by  both  belligerents — after  war  had  been  in  actual  existence 
for  two  years — and  renewed  preparations  for  the  prosecu- 
tion of  hostilities  in  America.  The  Earl  of  Loudon  was 
made  commander-in-chief  of  the  British  forces  in  America, 
with  General  Abercrombie  as  second  in  command.  General 
Montcalm  was  made  commander  of  the  French  forces,  to 
succeed  the  dying  Dieskau,  and,  while  the  English  were 
pursuing  a  policy  of  masterly  inactivity,  he  marched  upon 
the  fort  which  Shirley  had  built  and  garrisoned  at  Oswego, 
and  in  August  captured  it,  together  with  about  1,600 
prisoners. 

Some  of  these  unfortunates  were  tomahawked  by 
drunken  savages,  and  about  100  pieces  of  artillery  and  con- 
siderable ammunition  were  taken.  It  was  the  greatest  victory 
that  the  French  had  yet  achieved  in  America,  but  the  French 
success  was  partially  offset  by  the  erection  of  a  British  fort 
on  the  Tennessee  to  guard  Georgia  and  the  Carolinas  against 

18  Winsor,    "Narrative    and    Critical    History,"    vol.    v.    p.    504;    Parkman, 
"  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,"  vol.  i.  p.  316. 


FRENCH    AND    INDIAN    WAR  315 

incursions  of  the  French  from  their  posts  east  of  the  Miss- 
issippi. The  destruction  also  of  Kittanning,  an  Indian  vil- 
lage some  fifty  miles  north  of  Fort  Du  Quesne  on  the 
Allegheny  River,  served  further  to  offset  in  a  small  way  the 
French  victory  at  Oswego.  From  Kittanning  Indian  raids 
had  been  made  upon  the  frontier  settlements  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  many  of  the  inhabitants  massacred  or  carried 
away  into  captivity.  It  was  finally  taken  by  a  militiaman, 
Captain  John  Armstrong,  who,  with  a  party  of  300  fron- 
tiersmen, pushed  his  way  through  the  wilderness  in 
September  and  fell  upon  the  town  in  the  early  morning, 
taking  the  Indians  unawares  just  as  they  were  closing 
a  night  of  festivities.  After  a  hot  and  stubborn  fight 
the  Indians  were  badly  routed  and  their  town  utterly  de- 
stroyed, together  with  a  quantity  of  ammunition  which 
they  declared  was  sufficient  for  ten  years'  war  with  the 
English. 

Throughout  the  winter  which  followed  hostilities  were 
suspended  with  the  exception  of  a  few  raids  upon  the 
enemy  undertaken  by  partisan  bands  from  New  England 
or  from  the  forts  in  New  York.  An  unsuccessful  attempt 
was  also  made  by  a  French  party  to  strike  a  blow  against 
the  fort  at  the  heed  of  Lake  George,  but  the  garrison 
proved  too  strong,  and  their  assailants  were  compelled  to 
retreat  without  inflicting  any  greater  injury  than  the  burn- 
ing of  neighboring  houses  and  the  desolation  of  the  adjacent 
country. 

The  military  operations  of  1757  were  even  less  success- 
ful from  the  English  standpoint  than  those  of  the  preceding 
year.  It  was  indeed  a  year  of  humiliation  and  disaster.19 
One  of  the  objective  points  of  the  war  was  the 
capture  of  Louisburg,  the  impregnable  fortress  on  Cape 
Breton  Island,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  had  been  taken  by 

19  Thwaites,  "  France  in  America,"  p.  215. 


316 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


Pepperell  and  his  New  England  militiamen  in  1748  and  re- 
stored to  France  by  the  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  to  the 
great  chagrin  of  the  New  Englanders.  Loudon  planned  to 
lead  an  attack  upon  the  stronghold,  but  his  preparations 
were  characterized  by  extraordinary  tardiness  and  inactivity. 


A  French Earthworks  and 

B.  first  landing  Place . 

C  English  Hedvuiti 

D  English  Baltaies 

E  Pond 

F   Siege   Wmks 

G.  Barachovs 

H  Princess's  Bastion 

I    Querns  Bastion. 

J.  A'utf/s  Bastion. 

X  Dauphins  Bat 

L.  Crand  Battery. 

M  Island.  Battery 


Map  of  the  Siege  of  Louisburg 

Finally,  he  embarked  from  New  York  with  a  large  fleet,  and 
reached  Halifax  in  June,  where  he  was  joined  by  a  squadron 
from  England,  his  effective  strength  consisting  altogether 
of  ten  or  twelve  thousand  men  and  sixteen  vessels.  The 
French,  having  apparently  learned  of  his  coming,  had 
assembled  a  larger  fleet  at  Louisburg  and  were  awaiting  the 
attack.  Loudon  lacked  Pepperell's  capacity  and  courage 
and  was  easily  persuaded  to  believe  that  an  attack  would 
result  in  his  defeat.  He  accordingly  abandoned  the  expe- 
dition and  returned  with  his  fleet  to  New  York,  while  the 
English  squadron  was  disabled  by  a  storm. 

The  almost  disgraceful  ending  of  the  Louisburg  ex- 
pedition was  followed  by  a  disaster  to  the  English  on  Lake 


FRENCH    AND    INDIAN    WAR  317 

George.  Here,  after  the  defeat  of  the  French  at  Crown 
Point  in  1755,  Johnson  had  erected  a  fort  which  he  named 
William  Henry  for  one  of  the  king's  grandsons.  In  order 
to  supply  troops  for  the  expedition  against  Louisburg,  the 
militia  from  New  York  had  been  largely  drawn  off.  Tak- 
ing advantage  of  this  situation,  Montcalm,  having  in  the 
meantime  descended  from  Canada  with  nearly  8,000  men, 
of  whom  about  one- fourth  were  savages  who  desolated  the 
country  as  they  marched  and  inflicted  unspeakable  atrocities 
on  the  inhabitants,  fell  suddenly  upon  the  English  fort.  It 
was  garrisoned  by  about  2,000  men  under  the  command  of 
Colonel  Munro,  a  courageous  and  capable  officer,  who  re- 
fused to  surrender.  There  were  2,600  men  near  by  at  Fort 
Edward,  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Webb,  and  to  this 
officer  Munro  sent  appeals  in  vain  for  reen  for  cements.  For 
four  or  five  days  the  brave  garrison  held  out,  but  was  finally 
forced  to  surrender,  being  accorded  generous  terms  and 
allowed  to  march  out  with  the  honors  of  war. 

Montcalm  found  it  impossible  to  compel  the  Indians  to 
observe  the  terms  of  the  treaty,  although  he  had  exacted  from 
the  chiefs  a  promise  of  obedience.  Disappointed  at  not 
finding  plunder  in  the  fort,  they  turned  upon  the  sick  and 
wounded  left  there,  murdered  them  in  cold  blood,  and  hor- 
ribly mutilated  their  bodies.  Proceeding  early  next  morning 
to  the  camp,  partly  intoxicated  with  rum,  they  began  the 
work  of  butchering  the  soldiers  who  were  waiting  to  be 
marched  out. 

In  vain  did  Montcalm  appeal  to  his  blood-thirsty 
allies  to  spare  the  English  who  were  under  his  protec- 
tion: he  even  begged  them  to  kill  him  instead.  But 
neither  threats  nor  entreaties,  nor  the  promise  of  presents, 
could  restrain  them,  and  so  they  kept  on  with  their  bloody 
work  until  seventy  or  eighty  persons,  including  a  number  of 
women  and  children,  had  been  massacred.      Two  hundred 


318  THE    UNITED    STATES 

prisoners  and  a  quantity  of  plunder  were  carried  away,  the 
fort  was  razed  to  the  ground  and  the  ruins,  with  the  dead 
bodies  of  the  slain,  were  heaped  in  a  vast  pile  and  burned  to 
ashes.20 

Thus  the  year  1757  ended  as  the  preceding  one,  in 
gloom  for  the  British,  and  the  great  mass  of  the  people  were 
in  despondency.21  The  war  had  now  been  going  on  for 
more  than  two  years,  and  they  had  scarcely  won  a  single 
substantial  victory.  The  record  was  mainly  a  succession  of 
disasters  and  failures,  both  on  land  and  sea.  To  this,  how- 
ever, there  was  a  notable  exception.  In  far-away  India  the 
British  had  won  the  Battle  of  Plassey,  by  which  they  had 
destroyed  the  French  power  in  that  part  of  the  globe  and 
laid  the  foundation  for  a  great  empire  in  the  East.  But  in 
America  the  French  still  controlled  three-fourths  of  the  con- 
tinent, including  the  great  waterways  that  led  to  the  heart 
of  the  continent,  the  Mississippi  and  the  St.  Lawrence,  and 
the  several  portages  which  connected  them.  Not  a  foot  of 
the  disputed  territory  in  the  valley  of  the  Ohio  or  on  the 
Great  Lakes  was  held  by  Great  Britain,  and  the  only  fort 
she  had  established  there  had  been  taken  by  the  enemy.  The 
British  commanders  in  America  had  shown  themselves  in- 
efficient and  incapable.  Popular  sentiment  attributed  this 
state  of  affairs  to  the  imbecility  and  worthlessness  of  the 
Newcastle  ministry,  which  had  held  the  reins  of  power  since 
the  outbreak  of  the  war. 

20  Parkman,  "  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,"  vol.  i.  p.  513. 
2iThwaites,  "France  in  America,"  p.  215. 


FRENCH    AND    INDIAN    WAR  319 

VII 

THE   VICTORIES   OF   PITT 

It  was  now  felt  that  what  England  needed  more  than 
anything  else  was  an  able  leader  at  the  head  of  the  govern- 
ment, a  man  who  was  capable  of  directing  and  managing  a 
great  war.  Public  sentiment  had  already  found  such  a 
statesman  in  the  person  of  William  Pitt,  the  Great  Com- 
moner, as  he  was  called,  but  the  king  and  the  ruling  Whig 
families  looked  upon  him  with  jealousy  and  caused  his  dis- 
missal in  April,  1757.  But  the  popular  enthusiasm  for  Pitt 
was  irresistible,  and  in  June  of  the  same  year  he  was  called 
to  the  head  of  the  government.  Almost  instantly  the  situ- 
ation began  to  improve  under  his  magic  touch.  He  had 
worked  out  well-conceived  plans  for  prosecuting  the  war 
and  now  proceeded  to  carry  them  out  with  masterly  success. 
"  England  has  long  been  in  labor,"  said  Frederick  the  Great, 
"  and  has  at  last  brought  forth  a  man."  Pitt  proposed  to 
take  Louisburg,  Ticonderoga,  Du  Quesne,  and  finally 
Quebec,  and  under  his  direction  the  organization  of  the 
army  was  speedily  reformed  and  new  and  able  leaders  like 
Howe,  Forbes,  Amherst  and  Wolfe  were  selected  to  carry 
out  his  programme. 

In  the  early  part  of  1758  England  became  an  ally  of 
Frederick  the  Great,  who  had  been  struggling  single-handed 
against  a  coalition  of  the  great  Catholic  powers,  and  the 
combined  forces  of  the  allies  soon  began  to  win  startling 
victories  over  the  enemy,  in  spite  of  the  great  odds  against 
them.  The  moral  effect  of  these  brilliant  European  victories 
upon  the  spirits  of  the  disheartened  Americans  was  soon 
perceptible.  Early  in  1758  Pitt  sent  a  fleet  to  America 
under  the  command  of  Admiral  Boscowen  to  capture  Louis- 
burg.    It  consisted  of  more  than  forty  vessels  and  had  on 


320 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


board  over  eleven  thousand  troops,  nearly  all  regulars,  in- 
cluding two  able  commanders,  Generals  Jeffrey  Amherst 
and  James  Wolfe.  On  May  28,  after  a  long  and  tempestu- 
ous voyage,  the  fleet  arrived  at  Halifax,  and  early  in 
June  began  the  attack  upon  the  powerful  French  fortress, 
the  "  Dunkirk  of  America."  The  gallant  Wolfe,  in  the 
face  of  a  deadly  fire,  captured  the  outposts  and  drove  in  the 

enemy's  lines,  killing  and 
capturing  120  men.  A 
regular  siege  was  then 
begun  against  the  for- 
tress. Day  after  day 
Boscowen's  guns  bom- 
barded the  fort,  until  by 
the  latter  part  of  July 
the  French  cannon  were 
silenced  and  a  breach 
made  in  the  crumbling 
walls.  Part  of  the  fort 
was  also  on  fire  and  the 
condition  of  the  garrison 
was  truly  pitiable.  In  one 
day    no   less   than   1,200 

William  Pitt,  Earl  of  Chatham  1  -.  ,,  , 

bombs  were  thrown,  and 
there  was  scarcely  a  house  in  the  town  that  had  not  been  in- 
jured by  the  artillery  fire.  In  this  situation  it  seemed  useless 
for  the  garrison  to  attempt  to  hold  out  further,  and  it  sur- 
rendered upon  receiving  promise  of  honorable  terms.  Alto- 
gether about  5,700  men  were  made  prisoners,  while  240 
cannon  and  a  large  quantity  of  ammunition  and  stores  were 
captured.  This  splendid  success,  really  the  first  of  the  war, 
aroused  genuine  enthusiasm  throughout  the  American  col- 
onies and  raised  Pitt  to  the  first  place  in  the  hearts  of  the 
English  people.     Addresses  of  congratulation  poured  in 


FRENCH    AND    INDIAN    WAR 

upon  the  king  from  every  quarter,  thanksgiving  sermons 
were  preached  in  New  England,  and  displays  of  fireworks 
and  illuminations  were  made  in  all  the  large  towns  of  the 
colonies.  It  proved  to  be  the  beginning  of  a  series  of  suc- 
cesses which  were  to  result  ultimately  in  the  downfall  of  the 
French. 

It  was  also  a  part  of  Pitt's  programme  to  capture  Ticon- 
deroga,  an  important  stronghold  held  by  the  French  at  the 
north  end  of  Lake  George,  and  which,  besides  controlling 
the  highway  to  Canada,  was  a  thorn  in  the  side  of  New  York. 
While  the  siege  of  Louisburg  was  in  progress  a  large  army 
was  assembling  in  New  York  under  the  leadership  of  Aber- 
crombie  and  Lord  Howe,  brother  of  the  two  Howes  of 
Revolutionary  fame,  for  the  purpose  of  marching  against 
Ticonderoga.  The  army  consisted  of  15,000  men,  of  whom 
6,300  were  British  regulars  and  9,000  were  provincials, 
mainly  from  New  England  and  the  middle  colonies,  among 
them  being  Israel  Putnam  and  John  Stark.  It  is  believed 
to  have  been  the  largest  army  of  white  soldiers  ever  assem- 
bled in  America  up  to  that  time.22  Besides,  there  were  about 
900  bateaux,  135  whale  boats  and  a  large  number  of  heavy 
flatboats  for  transporting  the  men  and  artillery  on  the  lake. 

Early  in  July  the  flotilla,  bearing  the  army  and  present- 
ing a  magnificent  spectacle,  sailed  down  the  lake  and  pre- 
pared to  attack  the  fort  which  was  occupied  by  Montcalm 
with  about  4,000  men.23  A  skirmishing  party  had  been 
thrown  out  by  Montcalm  and  this  was  attacked  by  an  ad- 
vance guard  of  the  English  force,  with  the  result  that  Lord 
Howe,  the  real,  though  not  nominal,  commander  of  the 
army,  was  killed  in  the  sharp  fight  which  followed.  The 
death  of  this  brave  leader  threw  the  army  into  confusion  and 
produced  a  languor  and  consternation  from  which  the  timid, 

22  Sloane,  "  French  War  and  the  Revolution,"  p.  69. 

23  Parkman,  "  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,"  vol.  ii.  p.  93. 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


incapable  Abercrombie  was  never  able  to  completely  rescue 
it.  On  July  8  the  English  troops  undertook  to  carry 
the  breastworks  of  the  fort,  but  were  mowed  down  in 
frightful  numbers,  while  Abercrombie  himself  remained  at 
a  sawmill  a  mile  and  a  half  away,  secure  from  all  danger. 
By  his  direction  six  frantic  assaults  were  made  against  the 
intrenchments,  but  each  time  the  soldiers  were  driven  back, 

leaving  in  the  end  about  2,000 
of  their  dead  and  wounded 
on  the  ground.  In  this  situa- 
tion Abercrombie  decided  to 
abandon  the  attack  and  re- 
treat with  his  shattered  army 
to  the  south.  This  he  did, 
leaving  Ticonderoga  in  the 
hands  of  the  enemy.  His 
military  career,  like  that  of 
Loudon,  having  ended  in 
failure,  he  returned  to  Eng- 
land, reentered  politics,  was 
elected  to  Parliament,  and  we 
hear  of  him  no  more. 

While  the  English  were 
sorrowing  over  their  awful 
disaster  at  Lake  George, 
there  occurred  an  event  which  served  to  cheer,  in  a 
slight  degree  at  least,  their  drooping  spirits.  This  was 
the  capture  and  destruction  of  Fort  Frontenac,  on  the 
western  shore  of  Lake  Ontario.  This  daring  exploit 
was  accomplished  by  John  Bradstreet,  who  with  some 
3,000  militiamen  marched  to  Oswego,  which  he  easily  re- 
captured, after  which  he  crossed  the  lake  in  such  boats  as 
could  be  procured,  and  in  the  latter  part  of  August  captured 
the  coveted  fort  with  its  garrison  of  more  than  a  hundred 


Marquis  de  Montcalm 

From  a  portrait  in  the  possession  of 
the  present  Marquis  de  Mont- 
calm, Paris,  France 


FRENCH    AND    INDIAN    WAR  323 

men  and  nine  armed  vessels — the  whole  of  the  French  naval 
force  on  Lake  Ontario — besides  a  large  quantity  of  valuable 
spoils,  including  60  cannon,  ammunition  and  stores,  intended 
for  Fort  Du  Quesne.  Next  to  the  loss  of  Louisburg,  this 
was  the  heaviest  blow  that  the  French  had  yet  received. 
Their  command  of  Lake  Ontario  was  now  gone  and  New 
France  was  cut  in  twain.24 

The  last  military  campaign  of  the  year  was  that  against 
Fort  Du  Quesne.  This  expedition  was  entrusted  to  the 
command  of  General  Forbes,  a  Scotch  veteran,  with  the 
able  assistance  of  Colonel  George  Washington,  who  marched 
at  the  head  of  1,400  Virginia  troops.  To  these  were  added 
2,700  men  from  Pennsylvania  under  John  Armstrong,  about 
2,000  men  from  the  Carolinas,  and  a  corps  of  Royal  Amer- 
icans, commanded  by  a  Swiss  officer,  Colonel  Bouquet,  mak- 
ing altogether  an  army  of  about  6,000  men,  nearly  all  of 
whom  were  Americans.  After  some  discussion  it  was  de- 
cided not  to  follow  the  road  constructed  by  Braddock  in 
1754,  but  to  cut  a  new  path  through  the  forest  from  the 
headwaters  of  the  Juniata  across  the  ridges  to  a  tributary 
of  the  Allegheny.  It  was  the  shorter  route,  but  was  more 
broken  and  required  a  vast  amount  of  time  and  labor  to 
construct  the  road.  The  proposition  was  opposed  by  Wash- 
ington, who,  not  insensible  to  the  interests  of  his  colony, 
which  had  western  lands  to  develop,  insisted  on  following 
Braddock's  road.  The  Pennsylvanians,  on  the  other  hand, 
wished  to  have  a  new  road  cut  from  Carlisle  direct  to  Fort 
Du  Quesne. 

The  expedition  was  delayed  in  getting  started,  and  when 
at  last,  in  June,  it  began  to  move,  General  Forbes  was  seized 
with  a  mortal  illness  and  had  to  be  carried  on  a  litter  before 
his  troops.  On  account  of  the  additional  delay  thus  occa- 
sioned, it  was  not  until  September  that  the  expedition  reached 
the  neighborhood   of  the   forks.    Major   Grant  with   800 

24  Parkman,  "  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,"  vol.  ii.  p.  129. 


THE    UNITED    STATES 

skirmishers  was  sent  forward  to  reconnoiter,  and  if  possible 
decoy  a  portion  of  the  garrison  from  the  fort  and  capture 
them;  but  he  was  surprised  by  overwhelming  numbers  and 
badly  beaten  in  a  fight  which  cost  him  nearly  300  men.  At 
this  juncture  it  was  decided  not  to  proceed  farther  until 
spring,  but  on  November  12  news  was  brought  to  the 
camp  by  friendly  Indians  that  the  garrison  of  Fort  Du 
Quesne  had  been  diminished  by  withdrawals  and  was  badly 
weakened  for  lack  of  supplies.  Thereupon  it  was  resolved 
to  resume  the  march,  and  Washington  and  Armstrong,  with 
3,500  men,  pushed  forward  through  the  forests,  only  to  find 
upon  reaching  the  forks  of  the  Ohio  a  heap  of  smoldering 
ruins  on  the  site  of  the  fort. 

The  French  garrison,  reduced  to  five  hundred  men, 
seeing  that  they  were  greatly  outnumbered  and  on  the 
verge  of  starvation,  had  burned  the  barracks  and  store- 
houses, blown  up  the  fortifications,  and  departed  in  va- 
rious directions,  leaving  the  heads  of  their  slaughtered 
captives  stuck  on  poles  for  the  delectation  of  their  living 
comrades.  Upon  the  arrival  of  Washington  the  English 
flag  was  hoisted  on  the  spot  and  a  thanksgiving  service  fol- 
lowed the  next  day.  Few  campaigns  have  ever  been  con- 
ducted so  successfully  from  a  litter  of  pain.25  The  name  of 
the  place  was  changed  to  Pittsburg,  in  honor  of  the  Great 
Commoner,  who  had  made  the  English  triumph  possible. 
The  name  was  retained  after  the  colonies  became  independent 
States,  in  recognition  of  Pitt's  unselfish  stand  for  the  liber- 
ties of  the  Americans  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution, 
and  on  the  site  of  the  ruined  fort  has  grown  up  a  mighty  city 
which  stands  the  most  enduring  monument  ever  erected  to 
an  Englishman  on  this  continent.  General  Forbes  was 
carried  back  to  Philadelphia  on  a  litter,  and  after  lingering 
in  great  pain,  died  in  March  and  was  buried  with  military 
honors  in  Christ  Church,  that  city. 

25Winsor,  "Narrative  and  Critical  History,"  vol.  v.  p.  530. 


FRENCH    AND    INDIAN    WAR  325 

The  year  1758  opened  under  more  auspicious  circum- 
stances for  the  English  than  any  preceding  year  since  the 
outbreak  of  the  war.  Since  the  accession  of  Pitt,  the  military 
situation  had  undergone  a  marvelous  transformation.  A 
succession  of  victories  had  followed  where  hitherto  only  dis- 
aster and  failure  had  characterized  English  operations.  The 
important  strongholds  of  Louisburg,  Du  Quesne,  and 
Frontenac,  constituting  the  left,  right  and  center,  re- 
spectively, of  the  French  lines,  had  been  taken,  and 
barring  the  repulse  of  Abercrombie  at  Ticonderoga,  the 
English  forces  in  America  had  not  suffered  a  defeat  since 
Pitt  assumed  the  reins  of  government.  The  great  West 
was  now  open  to  English  enterprise,  the  frontier  settlements 
were  relieved  from  the  scourge  of  Indian  warfare  and  the 
French  had  lost  half  their  savage  allies.26  Encouraged  at 
the  prospect,  Pitt  mapped  out  an  elaborate  and  well-con- 
ceived plan  of  campaign  for  the  new  year.  The  region  of 
territory  between  the  lakes  and  the  forks  of  the  Ohio  was  to 
be  taken  and  held  secure  by  General  Stanwix ;  an  expedition 
under  the  direction  of  General  Prideaux  and  Sir  William 
Johnson  was  to  be  sent  against  Niagara  and  Montreal; 
while  General  Amherst,  who  had  been  made  commander- 
in-chief,  was  to  be  sent  against  Ticonderoga,  after  which  his 
forces  were  to  join  the  army  of  the  St.  Lawrence  under 
Wolfe  and  advance  upon  Quebec.27 

The  campaign  opened  with  the  advance  on  Fort  Niag- 
ara, Prideaux  leading  a  division  of  English  regulars  and 
American  provincials,  with  Johnson  at  the  head  of  a  band  of 
Iroquois  braves.  Leaving  strong  garrisons  at  Fort  Stan- 
wix and  Oswego,  they  embarked  at  the  latter  place  early  in 
July  and  in  due  course  arrived  at  Niagara  and  laid  siege 
to  the  fort.  Shortly  after  beginning  the  bombardment,  Pri- 
se Parkman,  "  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,"  vol.  ii.  p.  162. 
2T  Sloan,  "  French  War  and  the  Revolution,"  p.  78. 


326 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


deaux  was  killed  by  a  shell  and  was  succeeded  in  the  com- 
mand by  Johnson.  The  siege  continued  for  several  weeks, 
and,  although  the  French  received  large 
reinforcements,  they  were  compelled  to 
surrender.  It  is  a  relief  to  be  able  to 
record  that  the  surrender  was  not  fol- 
lowed by  an  Indian  massacre,  such  as  had 
occurred  at  Fort  William  Henry  when 
the  English  surrendered  to  the  French 
and  their  savage  allies,  although  Johnson, 
remembering  the  atrocities  perpetrated 
upon  his  countrymen  on  the  latter  occa- 
sion, did  not  object  to  the  Indians  pil- 
laging the  fort  and  enjoying  the  spoils. 
The  result  of  the  fall  of  Fort  Niagara 
was  to  make  possible  the  speedy  establish- 
ment of  English  control  over  the  inter- 
vening country  between  the  lakes  and  the 
Ohio,  and  it  was  immediately  followed 
by  the  abandonment  of  the  neighboring 
forts  between  Niagara  and  Pittsburg. 
In  a  few  weeks  not  a  fighting  French- 
man was  to  be  found  in  all  this  part  of 
New  France. 

Ticonderoga,  at  the  head  of  Lake 
George,  was  now  the  only  remaining 
French  stronghold  within  American  ter- 
ritory claimed  by  the  Crown  of  Great 
Britain.  Preparations  for  the  advance 
against  this  place  were  rapidly  pushed, 

Map    Showing    Ticon-   an(J  m  June  an  army  Qf  oyer  ten  thousand 

deroga,  Crown  Point  j 

and  the  surrounding  men,  about  equally  divided  between  regu- 
lars   and   provincials,    was    assembled    at 
Lake  George  under  the  command  of  General  Amherst.    On 


SARATOGA 


MASS. 


FRENCH    AND    INDIAN    WAR  327 

July  21  the  army  sailed  down  the  lake  for  Ticonder- 
oga,  but  as  it  neared  the  walls  of  the  fort  the  garrison, 
numbering  about  3,500  men,  abandoned  it  and  withdrew 
to  Crown  Point.  Subsequently  the  latter  place  was  also 
abandoned  and  the  French  army  retreated  to  Isle-aux- 
Noix  in  the  Richelieu  River.  Instead  of  following  the  re- 
treating enemy,  as  he  should  have  done,  Amherst  settled 
down  with  his  superior  army  to  building  a  fortress  arid  con- 
structing vessels,  until  the  season  for  conducting  hostilities 
was  past. 

VIII 

THE    FALL     OF     QUEIJEC 

The  year  1759  was  to  see  the  crowning  event  of  the  war 
in  the  capture  of  Quebec,  the  capital  of  New  France.  This 
city  stands  on  a  high  promontory  overlooking  the  St.  Law- 
rence River  and  occupies  an  angle  formed  by  the  confluence 
of  the  St.  Charles  and  the  St.  Lawrence  rivers.  In  the 
rear  of  the  city  is  a  plateau  stretching  back  some  eight  miles 
toward  the  west  and  known  as  the  Plains  of  Abraham.  The 
defense  of  ,  Quebec  had  been  entrusted  to  Montcalm,  who, 
in  spite  of  a  bitter  controversy  with  the  jealous  governor 
of  Canada — a  quarrel  which  was  carried  to  the  court  of  the 
king  for  settlement — had  been  retained  in  the  American 
service,  although  his  requests  for  additional  men  and  supplies 
had  been  refused.  His  total  available  strength  was  about 
17,000  men,  including  a  considerable  number  of  Indians.28 
Defended  by  such  a  force  and  possessing  such  natural  ad- 
vantages of  position,  the  city  was  believed  to  be  impossible 
of  capture.  Nevertheless,  General  Wolfe  resolved  to  make 
the  effort.  Though  still  a  young  man,  just  lately  turned  his 
thirty-second  year,  he  had  been  in  the  military  service  six- 

28  Parkman,  "  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,"  vol.  ii.  p.  202. 


3*8 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


Map  of  the  Siege  of  Quebec,  September  13,  1759 


teen  years,  had  taken  part  in  the  battles  of  Culloden,  Ster- 
ling and  Perth,  and  had  given  evidence  of  bravery,  fertility 
of  resource  and  even  of  genius.  He  had  at  his  command 
a  fleet  bearing  9,000  men,  which  in  June  had  sailed  up  the 
St.  Lawrence  and  anchored  a  short  distance  below  the  city. 
Among  the  officers  of  his  army  were  some  whom  we  shall 
meet  again  during  the  Revolution,  notably  Guy  Carleton, 
William  Howe  and  Isaac  Barre. 

Wolfe's  army  was  disembarked  and  a  camp  established 
on  the  north  bank  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  near  the  mouth  of 
the  Montmorency  River,  about  seven  miles  below  Quebec 
and  within  sound  of  the  Montmorency  falls.  The  north 
bank  of  the  St.  Lawrence  from  Montmorency  to  Quebec 
frowned  with  French  batteries,  while  the  opposite  shore  was 
lined  with  English  cannon  and  redoubts.  The  English 
batteries  were  able  to  destroy  the  lower  part  of  Quebec  (that 
part  near  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Charles  River)  with  hot  shot, 


FRENCH    AND    INDIAN   WAR 

but  the  citadel,  of  course,  could  not  be  reached.  For  weeks 
after  Wolfe's  army  had  gotten  into  position  nothing  was 
done  but  wait  and  watch  for  an  opportunity  to  strike. 
Montcalm  acted  strictly  on  the  defensive,  and,  much  to 
Wolfe's  chagrin,  avoided  a  general  engagement.  To  be  sure, 
there  were  desultory  operations,  occasional  skirmishes  and 
artillery  bombardments,  but  in  effect  they  amounted  to  little. 
From  time  to  time  the  French  attempted  to  destroy  the 
English  fleet  by  sending  down  floating  rafts  of  fire-ships 
against  it.  On  July  27  a  raft  of  seventy  vessels  loaded  with 
old  cannon,  bombs,  mortars,  swivels,  etc,  charged  with 
powder  and  ball  and  the  whole  smeared  with  tar  and  pitch, 
was  fired  and  set  adrift  on  the  river.  The  effect  was  terrific. 
The  heavens  were  made  lurid  with  darting  tongues  of  flame, 
while  the  earth  trembled  with  explosions  of  infernal  ma- 
chines, as  the  whole  slowly  floated  down  the  stream.  The 
vigilant  English,  however,  were  able  to  steer  them  aside  or 
run  them  ashore,  so  that  no  harm  was  done. 

Wolfe,  eager  for  a  fight  with  the  French,  crossed  the 
Montmorency  below  the  falls  on  July  31,  and  with  a  de- 
tachment charged  the  French  redoubts  on  the  opposite 
bank.  But  the  attacking  party  was  driven  back  and  forced 
to  retreat,  suffering  a  loss  of  440  men,  many  of  whom 
were  scalped  by  the  Indians.29  This  repulse,  together 
with  Wolfe's  impatience  and  his  disappointment  at  the 
failure  of  Amherst  to  come  to  his  aid,  threw  him  into  a 
dangerous  fever  from  which  he  barely  recovered.  Plan 
after  plan  had  been  worked  out,  but  had  been  found  im- 
possible of  execution;  nearly  a  thousand  men  had  been  sac- 
rificed; the  season  was  rapidly  passing,  and  yet  the  position 
of  the  French  was  as  secure  as  ever.    The  thought  of  aban- 

29Sloane,  "The  French  War  and  the  Revolution,"  p.  87;  Parkman,  "Mont- 
calm and  Wolfe,"  vol.  ii.  p.  233;  Winsor,  "Narrative  and  Critical  History,"  voL 
v.  p.  545. 


330  THE    UNITED    STATES 

doning  the  campaign  frightened  him.  He  now  proposed 
what  seemed  to  everyone  except  himself  an  audacious,  if 
not  impossible,  task — namely,  the  scaling  of  the  Heights  of 
Abraham. 

Revived  by  the  prospect  of  activity,  he  arose  from  his 
sick  bed  and  began  preparations  for  the  execution  of  his 
daring  scheme.  Abandoning  the  camp  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Montmorency,  he  moved  his  fleet  noiselessly  up  the  river 
under  the  cover  of  darkness,  past  the  batteries  of  the  enemy, 
and  landed  at  a  quiet  eddy  just  north  of  the  city,  ever  since 
known  as  Wolfe's  Cove.  A  narrow  zigzag  path  led  from 
the  cove  to  the  top  of  the  heights,  and  up  this  the  men  silently 
clambered,  single  file,  through  the  darkness,  and  when  morn- 
ing dawned  Montcalm  was  amazed  to  find  not  less  than  five 
thousand  of  the  enemy  drawn  up  along  the  crest  of  the 
height  within  a  mile  of  the  city  ready  for  battle.  The  inde- 
fatigable, vigilant  Montcalm  had  been  completely  outwitted. 
He  had  either  to  fight  Wolfe  in  the  open  or  abandon  the 
capital  of  New  France.  His  army  outnumbered  that  of 
Wolfe's,  but  was  inferior  in  fighting  qualities,  being  com- 
posed largely  of  raw  Canadian  militia  and  Indian  savages.30 
The  brave  Frenchman  determined  to  contest  the  ground 
with  Wolfe,  and,  if  possible,  drive  him  over  the  heights  into 
the  river.  Accordingly  he  made  a  fierce  onslaught  upon  the 
British  lines.  The  latter  coolly  withheld  their  fire  until  the 
enemy  was  within  a  few  yards,  when  they  poured  a  deadly 
volley  into  their  ranks  and  sent  them  flying  for  their  lives. 
The  rout  of  the  French  was  complete,  and  altogether  the 
affair  was  one  of  the  most  heroic  and  far-reaching  achieve- 
ments ever  wrought  by  Englishmen  in  any  land  or  age.31 
But  the  victory  of  the  English  had  cost  them  the  life  of  their 
general,  to  whom,  more  than  anyone  else,  the  victory  was  due. 

so  Sloane,  "  The  French  War  and  the  Revolution,"  p.  93. 
3i  Thwaites,  "  France  in  America,"  p.  254. 


O  0     »  '     »'       '_>  I  J    •*,    '     \       ', 


s    . .«'  •  •.••    <  « 


FRENCH    AND    INDIAN    WAR  333 

Twice  during  the  charge  Wolfe  had  been  wounded; 
nevertheless  he  continued  to  ride  up  and  down  the  lines 
encouraging  his  men  to  do  their  duty.  Finally  he  received  a 
third  wound,  which  was  destined  to  prove  fatal.  Being  car- 
ried to  the  rear  he  refused  medical  aid,  saying  it  was  of  no 
use,  as  his  end  was  near. 

Being  informed  that  the  French  were  retreating,  he 
roused  himself,  gave  an  order  for  dispatching  a  regiment 
to  cut  off  their  retreat  at  the  Charles  River  bridge,  turned 
upon  his  side  and  murmured,  "  Now,  God  be  praised,  I  shall 
die  in  peace."  In  a  few  moments  he  was  dead.32  Only  a 
few  months  before  he  had  parted  in  England  from  his 
affianced  bride,  to  whom  he  hoped  soon  to  return.  He  had, 
however,  a  strong  presentiment  that  death  would  overtake 
him  before  Quebec  was  captured.  In  the  evening  before  the 
landing  at  the  cove  he  delivered  to  a  friend  a  picture  of  his 
betrothed,  together  with  a  farewell  message  for  her.  He 
was  also  heard  to  quote  from  Gray's  "  Elegy  "  those  solemn 
lines  of  which  he  said  he  would  rather  have  been  the  author 
than  to  be  the  hero  of  Quebec : 

"  The  boasts  of  heraldry,  the  pomp  of  power, 
And  all  that  beauty,  all  that  wealth  e'er  gave, 
Await  alike  the  inevitable  hour, 
The  paths  of  glory  lead  but  to  the  grave." 

By  a  strange  fate  Montcalm  was  also  wounded  at  the 
moment  at  which  his  men  began  to  retreat.  Carried  to  the 
rear,  he  was  told  that  he  had  but  a  few  hours  to  live,  where- 
upon he  is  said  to  have  replied:  "lam  happy  that  I  shall  not 
live  to  see  the  surrender  of  Quebec."  He  died  on  September 
14,  and  was  buried  the  same  day  beneath  the  floor  of  the 
Ursuline  convent  in  the  city  which  he  had  given  his  life  to 
defend.    His  wish  not  to  see  the  surrender  of  Quebec  was 

32Parkman,  "Montcalm  and  Wolfe,"  vol.  ii.  p.  297. 


334 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


realized,  for  it  was  not  until  four  days  after  his  interment 
that  the  city  was  formally  occupied  by  an  English  garrison. 
The  fall  of  Quebec  practically  ended  the  war,  although 
it  continued  after  a  desultory  fashion  some  time  longer.  The 
French  power  in  America  was  broken.     One  by  one  the 


General  James  Wolfe 
From  a  painting  by  an  unknown  artist 

most  powerful  French  strongholds  had  fallen  before  the 
skillful  operations  of  the  British,  until  France  no  longer  held 
any  place  of  importance  in  America. 

Throughout  the  winter  skirmishing  operations  were 
kept  up  by  the  French,  and  in  the  spring  of  1760  a  deter- 
mined effort  was  made  to  recapture  Quebec.  A  hard-fought 
battle  took  place  on  the  Plains  of  Abraham,  on  the  identical 


FRENCH    AND    INDIAN    WAR  335 

spot  where  Wolfe  and  Montcalm  had  struggled  the  previous 
year,  and  the  English  were  driven  back  with  great  loss,  while 
French  war  vessels  poured  a  deadly  fire  into  the  city. 
Quebec  would  doubtless  have  been  retaken  had  it  not 
been  for  the  timely  arrival  in  the  latter  part  of  May  of  an 
English  fleet,  which  immediately  engaged  and  destroyed  the 
besieging  French  squadron.  In  September  Montreal  surren- 
dered to  Amherst,  and  with  the  surrender  ended  the  French 
and  Indian  War  in  America.  Still  Pitt  insisted  on  con- 
tinuing the  war  in  Europe,  in  spite  of  the  enormous  burdens 
which  it  was  entailing  upon  the  people  of  England;  but  in 
October,  1761,  he  was  forced  to  resign  and  a  Tory  ministry 
in  favor  of  peace  was  brought  into  power.  The  deplorable 
condition  of  France  finally  made  her  anxious  for  peace,  and 
in  February,  1763,  the  famous  Treaty  of  Paris  was  signed 
— an  instrument  remembered  chiefly  for  the  magnitude  and 
number  of  the  territorial  changes  which  it  brought  about. 
The  great  question  to  be  settled  was,  what  disposition  should 
be  made  of  the  English  conquests  in  America  and  elsewhere. 
England  held  Canada,  the  Ohio  Valley,  which  was  the  orig- 
inal subject  of  dispute,  the  French  West  Indies,  Cuba  and 
the  Philippine  Islands,  which  had  been  taken  from  Spain, 
who  had  become  an  ally  of  France  in  1762,  and  various  con- 
quests in  India. 

The  terms  finally  agreed  upon  provided  that  practically 
all  the  French  possessions  in  America,  including  Canada, 
Nova  Scotia,  Cape  Breton  and  the  Ohio  Valley,  and  that 
part  of  Louisiana  situated  east  of  the  Mississippi  River  and 
north  of  the  River  Iberville  (now  Manshac) ,  and  Lake  Pon- 
chartrain,  should  be  ceded  to  Great  Britain.  After  con- 
siderable wavering  as  to  whether  Canada  should  be  restored  to 
France,  and  Gaudaloupe,  with  its  profitable  sugar  industry, 
retained  instead,  the  British  Cabinet  decided  to  retain  the 
former  and  restore  the  latter.    France  was  allowed  to  retain 


336  THE    UNITED    STATES 

only  the  two  small  islands  of  St.  Pierre  and  Miquelon,  in 
the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  together  with  a  share  in  the  St. 
Lawrence  and  Newfoundland  fisheries.  In  the  West  Indies, 
Great  Britain  restored  the  French  possessions  of  Guada- 
loupe,  Martinique  and  St.  Lucia,  but  in  East  India  France 
was  required  to  relinquish  all  her  claims,  and  in  Africa  she 
lost  Senegal.  In  exchange  for  the  cession  of  Florida,  Great 
Britain  restored  to  Spain,  Cuba  and  the  Philippines,  which 
had  been  captured  by  British  squadrons  during  the  preced- 
ing year.  To  compensate  Spain  for  her  loss  of  Florida,  the 
King  of  France,  out  of  gratitude  to  his  Most  Catholic 
cousin,  ceded  to  him,  through  a  secret  agreement,  what  was 
left  of  Louisiana,  namely,  that  portion  which  stretched  west- 
ward with  indefinite  boundaries  from  the  Mississippi  River, 
and  that  part  east  of  the  Mississippi  and  south  of  the  Iber- 
ville, including  the  town  of  New  Orleans.33 

The  result  of  all  these  cessions  and  gifts  was  the  virtual 
extinction  of  French  dominion  and  the  annihilation  of 
French  power  in  America — a  fact  which  was  destined  to  have 
important  results  upon  the  future  relations  of  Great  Britain 
and  her  American  colonies.  America  was  now  divided  be- 
tween two  powers :  England  held  the  eastern  part  from  the 
Gulf  to  the  Arctic;  Spain  all  west  of  the  Mississippi,  in- 
cluding both  sides  of  the  mouth  of  that  great  river.  The 
loss  of  her  American  empire  was  a  severe  blow  to  the  pride 
of  the  French,  but  France  was  utterly  exhausted  and  could 
do  nothing  but  accept  the  hard  terms  imposed  by  her  victo- 
rious adversary,  now  recognized  as  the  leading  colonial  and 
maritime  empire  of  the  world.34 

The  "  Old  French  "  War,  as  it  was  called  in  America, 
had  important  political  bearings  on  the  subsequent  history 
of  the  colonies.      It  meant  that  the  civilization  of  North 

33  See  Thwaites,  "  France  in  America,"  ch.  xvii. 

34  Mahan,  "  Influence  of  Sea  Power,"  p.  291. 


FRENCH    AND    INDIAN    WAR 

America  was  to  be  dominated  by  English-speaking  people, 
and  that  meant  liberal  political  institutions  and  rapid  eco- 
nomic and  political  development  for  the  New  World.  The 
war  was  also  the  means  of  furnishing  the  colonists  with 
valuable  military  experience,  which  in  a  later  time  was  to  be 
of  great  service  to  them,  and  it  taught  them,  above  all  things, 
the  value  of  united  action  in  matters  of  common  interest. 
But  they  had  been  compelled  to  make  enormous  sacrifices 
for  whatever  gains  they  had  derived.  They  had  lost  large 
numbers  of  men,  while  their  frontier  communities  had  been 
ravaged  and  desolated  by  inhuman  savages  in  the  French 
service.  They  had  also  imposed  heavy  taxes  upon  themselves 
and  incurred  large  debts  for  the  prosecution  of  the  war. 
Especially  was  this  true  of  the  New  England  and  middle 
colonies,  the  expenditures  of  Massachusetts  alone  aggre- 
gating $2,500,000,  while  New  York  emerged  from  the  strug- 
gle with  a  debt  of  $1,000,000.  Part  of  the  expenditures 
incurred  by  the  colonists  for  the  equipment  of  their  troops 
were,  it  is  true,  reimbursed  from  the  imperial  treasury  after 
the  accession  of  Pitt ;  but  these  constituted  but  a  small  por- 
tion of  the  entire  outlay. 

But  if  the  financial  burdens  of  the  colonies  were  large, 
those  of  the  mother  country  were  much  greater.  England, 
in  1763,  staggered  under  the  weight  of  the  national  debt 
which  the  long  struggle  had  necessitated,  and  the  govern- 
ment was  compelled  to  look  around  for  new  sources  of 
revenue.  It  turned  to  the  American  colonies,  in  whose  be- 
half the  war  had,  to  a  large  extent,  been  waged,  and  who 
were  alleged  to  have  been  the  chief  beneficiaries  from  the 
expulsion  of  the  French  and  the  subjugation  of  the  Indians. 
They  were  asked,  for  the  first  time,  to  contribute  a  small 
tax  levied  by  the  home  government.  The  manner  of  their 
response  will  be  the  subject  of  another  chapter. 

One  result  of  the  extinction  of  French  power  in  Amer- 


340 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


ica  was  to  stir  up  a  great  Indian  uprising  against  the  Eng- 
lish settlements  in  the  Northwest,  The  Algonquin  tribes, 
who  throughout  the  war  had  been  active  allies  of  the  French, 
now  found  themselves  without  friendly  protection  in  Amer- 
ica, and,  entertaining  a  strong  hatred  for  their  new  masters, 
the  English,  who  instead  of  treating  the  Indians  with  flat- 
tery and  cordiality,  regarded 
them  as  old  enemies,  they  se- 
cretly entered  into  a  great  con- 
spiracy for  the  purpose  of 
driving  the  English  in- 
habitants off  the  frontier  and 
recovering  the  country  for 
themselves.  "  The  English 
shall  never  come  here  so  long 
as  a  red  man  lives,"  was  the 
message  sent  by  them  to  the 
French  settlers  of  Illinois, 
who  were  not  unwilling  to  en- 
courage the  uprising, 
provided  the  Indians  would 
do  the  fighting.35  The  leader 
of  the  conspiracy  was  Pontiac,  an  Ottawa  chief,  whom  Park- 
man  thinks  was  the  greatest  Indian  warrior  in  America,  and 
who  had  in  1755  led  his  braves  against  Braddock.  Like  Te- 
cumseh  in  a  later  war,  he  visited  various  tribes  in  the  North- 
west and  by  his  eloquence  and  diplomacy  induced  them  to 
join  the  conspiracy.  Others  were  won  over  by  his  emissaries, 
until  finally  nearly  every  Algonquin  tribe,  and  even  one  of 
the  Iroquois  nations,  had  entered  the  conspiracy.  By  con- 
certed agreement  an  attack  was  made  simultaneously  (May, 
1763)  on  most  of  the  English  posts  of  the  Northwest  from 
Oswego  to  Mackinaw,  fourteen  in  number.    All  but  four  of 

35  Thwaites,  "  France  in  America,"  p.  278 ;    Moses,  "  Illinois,"  vol.  i.  p.  124. 


Francis   Parkmak 
Photograph  from  life 


FRENCH    AND    INDIAN    WAR  341 

these — Niagara,  Pitt,  Ligonier  and  Detroit — were  captured, 
the  entire  garrison  of  Mackinaw  being  massacred.  Through- 
out the  summer  of  1763  a  veritable  reign  of  terror  existed 
along  the  western  frontier,  hundreds  of  families  were  mur- 
dered and  scalped,  whole  towns  were  destroyed  by  fire,  trav- 
elers were  waylaid  and  shot,  in  fact  the  very  existence  of  the 
English  settlements  in  the  West  was  threatened.  The  plot 
to  capture  Detroit  was  betrayed  by  an  Indian  girl,  a  fact 
which  gave  the  commanding  officer  time  to  prepare  for  de- 
fense. Pontiac  himself  laid  siege  to  the  fort,  but  after  sev- 
eral months  of  desultory  fighting  he  was  compelled  to  with- 
draw, mainly  as  a  result  of  desertion  from  his  own  ranks 
and  the  failure  of  expected  reinforcements. 

The  war  dragged  on  for  several  years,  until  August, 
1765,  when  Pontiac  entered  into  a  treaty  of  peace  with  Sir 
William  Johnson.  A  few  years  later  he  suffered  the  fate 
of  King  Philip,  being  killed  at  Cahokia,  Illinois,  by  one 
of  his  own  race.  He  was  buried  on  the  site  of  the  city  of 
St.  Louis,  where,  says  Parkman,  "  the  race  whom  he  hated 
with  such  burning  rancor  trample  with  unceasing  foot- 
steps over  his  forgotten  grave."  36 

86  " Conspiracy  of  Pontiac,"  vol.  ii.  p.  313. 


Chapter   IX 

RUPTURE    WITH    THE    MOTHER    COUNTRY 

1763-1775 


CAUSES   OF   THE   DISPUTE 

PETER  KALM,  a  Swedish  trader  who  visited 
America  in  1748,  predicted  that  the  extinction  of 
the  French  power  in  Canada  would  soon  be  followed 
by  the  revolt  of  the  English  colonies  against  the  mother 
country.1  So  long  as  France  held  Canada  the  English 
colonies  needed  the  protection  of  the  imperial  government 
against  this  old  enemy  which  hung  upon  their  borders  and 
sent  down  bands  of  Indian  savages  to  desolate  their  settle- 
ments. They  felt  a  sense  of  fright  at  the  thought  of  becom- 
ing colonies  of  a  Roman  Catholic  power,  and  consequently 
held  in  abatement  their  passion  for  extreme  local  autonomy. 
The  expulsion  of  the  French  from  America  as  a  result  of 
the  war  removed  this  danger,  and  consequently  lessened  the 
dependence  of  the  colonies  upon  the  mother  country.  No 
longer  under  the  necessity  of  shaping  their  policies  to  secure 
imperial  protection,  they  became  more  self-assertive,  showed 
an  increasing  disposition  to  oppose  such  acts  of  Parliament 
as  seemed  to  them  injurious  to  colonial  interests,  and  soon 
came  to  entertain  ideas  of  separation.  France  thus  occupied 
the  peculiar  position  of  encouraging  our  independent  spirit 
and  at  the  same  time  checking  its  extreme  development.2 

i  "Travels  in  North  America,"  vol.  i.  p.  265. 

a  Fisher,  "  True  History  of  the  Revolution,"  p.  32. 

342 


RUPTURE  WITH  MOTHER  COUNTRY 

Occasions  for  the  exhibition  of  the  spirit  of  independ- 
ence were  soon  afforded  by  the  new  colonial  policy  of  the 
British  Government.  It  must  not  be  understood,  however, 
that  the  causes  of  the  rupture  had  their  origin  entirely  in  the 
period  subsequent  to  the  French  and  Indian  War.  Some  of 
the  grievances  of  the  colonists  against  the  mother  country 
were  of  long  standing — in  fact,  dated  back  to  the  middle  of 
the  preceding  century.     The  principal  of  these  grew  out 

Of    the     CQBgPfflBtf]     pQlky     of     (Irpflt     Uri'tam     toward     her 

colonial  possessions.  According  to  the  views  of  European 
statesmen  in  the  seventeenth  century,  colonies  were  planted 
by  nations  solely  for  their  own  benefit,  were,  in  fact,  ex- 
pected to  serve  as  feeders  for  home  industries,  and  conse- 
quently there  was  neither  injustice  nor  inexpediency  in  ex- 
ploiting their  resources  and  monopolizing  their  trade.3 
These  were  the  underlying  principles  of  the  colonial  system 
which  prevailed  in  England  from  the  time  of  Charles  II. 
Nowhere  was  this  view  more  strongly  held  than  in  Eng- 
land, until  Adam  Smith,  on  the  eve  of  the  Revolution,  pub- 
lished his  "  Wealth  of  Nations,"  showing  the  impolicy  of  the 
old  theory  which  was  soon  to  cost  Great  Britain  her  most 
valuable  and  prosperous  possessions.4  The  adoption  of  this 
narrow  commercial  policy  really  begins  with  an  Act  of  Par- 
liament passed  in  October,  1651,  by  which  it  was  provided 
that  no  goods  of  the  growth  of  Asia,  Africa  or  America 
should  be  imported  into  England  or  the  English  colonies 
except  in  English  ships,  and  that  no  goods  of  the  growth  or 
manufacture  of  Europe  should  be  imported  into  England 
or  the  dominions  thereof  except  in  English  ships  or  ships  be- 
longing to  the  country  where  the  goods  were  produced  or 
manufactured.  The  obvious  purpose  of  the  Act  was  to  strike 

3Seeley,  "The  Expansion  of  England"  ch.  i.;  see  also  Thorold  Rogers, 
"Economic  Interpretation  of  History,"  p.  323;  Andrews,  "Colonial  Self-Gov- 
ernment,"  ch.  v.,  and  Howard,  "  Preliminaries  of  the  Revolution,"  ch.  iii. 

*Adam  Smith,  "Wealth  of  Nations,"  book  iv.  ch.  vii.    . 


THE    UNITED    STATES 

a  blow  at  the  vast  carrying  trade  of  the  Dutch,  and  the  ill 
feeling  it  engendered  ultimately  led  to  a  naval  war,  in  which 
the  two  great  admirals  Blake  and  Van  Tromp  contended  for 
the  mastery.5 

The  particular  effect  of  the  Act  was  to  exclude  the 
Dutch  as  carriers  between  England  and  the  colonies,  to_give 
the  English  carrier  the  monopoly  of  this  trade,  and,  by  thus 
diminishing  the  advantages  of  competition,  to  greatly  injure 
the  colonies,  as  they  maintained.  The  products  of  Europe, 
however,  might  still  be  brought  to  the  English  colonies  in  non- 
English  ships  if  transported  in  vessels  owned  in  the  country 
where  the  goods  were  produced  or  manufactured.  Thus  a 
French  cargo  might  be  brought  to  America  in  a  French  ves- 
sel, but  not  in  a  Dutch  vessel.  By  the  famous  Act  of  1660, 
for  "  The  Encouraging  and  Increasing  of  Shipping  and 
Navigation,"  this  latter  advantage  was  taken  away  by  pro- 
viding that  no  goods  should  be  imported  into  the  colonies  or 
exported  therefrom  except  in  English  or  colonial  built  and 
owned  vessels*  This  excluded  every  continental  European 
vessel  from  the  ports  of  the  colonies,  and  left  them  at  the 
mercy  of  the  English  carrier,  in  so  far  as  the  colonies  them- 
selves were  unable  to  carry  their  own  imports  and  exports. 

These  provisions  were  primarily  for  the  benefit  of  the 
maritime  interests  of  Great  Britain,  but  the  clamors  of 
the  mercantile  class  were  too  loud  to  be  ignoredV^and  so 
a  provision  was  inserted  in  the  same  Act  prohibiting 
the  colonies  from  exporting  certain  of  their  important 
articles  of  produce  and  manufacture  except  to  England 
and  to  the  other  colonies.  These  articles  were  sugar,  to- 
bacco, cotton,  wool,  indigo,  ginger,  fustic  and  other  dyeing 
woods,  mainly  the  products  of  the  southern  colonies  and  the 
West  Indies.     Other  commodities  were  added  to  the  list 

s  Beer,   "  Commercial   Policy  of   England  toward   the   American   Colonies," 
p.  32, 


RUPTURE  WITH  MOTHER  COUNTRY  345 

later.  The  actual  effect  of  this  provision  was  to  make  Eng- 
land the  sole  market  for  the  chief  staples  of  the  southern 
colonies,  thus  compelling  them,  as  they  asserted,  to  sell  their 
surplus  in  overstocked  markets.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
northern  colonies  could  export  their  grain,  fish,  live  stock  and 
naval  stores  whitherever  they  pleased,  provided  only  they 
were  sent  in  English  or  colonial  ships.6 

In  1673  another  Act  was  passed  prohibiting  the  expor- 
tation fronTone  colony  to  another  of  various  articles  of  pro- 
duce except  they  were  shipped  first  to  England,  or,  if  shipped 
direct  to  a  colony,  upon  payment  of  an  export  duty  equiva- 
lent to  the  English  import  duty.  Thus  a  cargo  of  Virginia 
tobacco  intended  for  Boston  had  either  to  be  shipped  to 
England  and  reshipped  to  Boston,  or  pay  the  English 
import  duty  for  the  privilege  of  shipping  direct  for  Bos- 
ton.7 Finally  in  1733  Parliament  passed  the  so-called  Sugar 
Act,  imposing  a  heavy  duty  on  sugar  and  molasses  imported 
into  the  American  colonies  from  any  other  than  English 
sugar-producing  possessions.  The  purpose  of  this  legislation 
was  of  course  to  prevent  the  English  colonies  from  importing 
sugar  from  the  French  West  India  islands,  and  to  compel 
them  to  import  only  from  the  British  islands.  As  they  ex- 
ported large  quantities  of  merchandise  and  produce  to  the 
French  islands  and  received  in  exchange  sugar  and  molasses, 
which  were  brought  to  the  colonies  and  converted  into  rum 
or  otherwise  consumed,  the  Act  was  a  real  hardship,  and  had 
it  not  been  systematically  evaded  it  would  have  seriously 
crippled  a  large  and  profitable  trade  between  America  and 
the  West  Indies. 

Other  laws  were  passed  to  protect  the  mercantile  classes 
against  the  competition  of  colonial  made  goods.     Thus  the 

« Chamberlain's    "The    Revolution   Impending,"   in   Winsor   "Narrative   and 
Critical  History,"  vol.  vi.  p.  7. 

7  Howard,  "  Preliminaries  of  the  Revolution,"  p.  57. 


THE    UNITED    STATES 

colonists  were  forbidden  to  set  up  steel  furnaces  and  slitting 
mills,  although  the  iron  industry  in  Pennsylvania  was  al- 
ready full  of  promise ;  to  export  colonial  made  hats,  or  send 
them  from  one  colony  to  another;  to  export  woolen  goods, 
while  a  variety  of  other  legislation  was  enacted  for  the  pur- 
pose of  discouraging  the  growth  of  colonial  industries.8 

In  extenuation  of  this  legislation  it  should  be  said  that 
it  was  not  enacted  in  pursuance  of  any  spirit  of  hostility 
toward  the  colonists,  but  was  rather  the  result  of  the  narrow 
and  false  economic  theories  of  the  age-  Moreover,  its  effect 
on  the  industrial  progress  of  America  was  not  so  unfavorable 
as  it  might  seem,  for  while  the  colonies  were  compelled  to  find 
a  market  for  certain  of  their  produce  in  England,  they  had  a 
monopoly  of  the  supply  for  that  market.  Thus  the  Eng- 
lish consumer  of  tobacco  was  not  allowed  to  grow  a  pound 
for  his  own  use  or  import  it  from  other  countries,  but  was 
compelled  to  draw  his  supply  from  the  colonies,  while  the  cul- 
tivation of  indigo,  rice,  and  the  exportation  of  tar,  hemp, 
flax,  ship  timber,  and  allied  products  to  England  were  en- 
couraged by  liberal  bounties.9  From  1714  to  1774  it  is  alleged 
that  over  one  and  a  half  million  pounds  sterling  were  paid  in 
premiums  on  colonial  goods  carried  to  British  porta.10  As 
for  the  Navigation  Acts,  some  of  them  encouraged  colonial 
shipping,  and  whether  they  did  or  not,  they  were  not  very 
different  from  those  to-day  which  confine  the  carrying  trade 
between  the  United  States  and  its  insular  dependencies  ex- 
clusively to  American  vessels.  As  to  the  restriction  on  the 
sale  of  domestic  made  hats,  it  was  maintained  by  the  British 
that  such  articles  could  be  imported  from  England  for 
less  than  they  could  be  made  in  the  colonies.     Finally,  it 

8  For  a  summary  of  these  restriction  laws  see  Beer's  "  Commercial  Policy,'" 
pp.   66-90. 

""'«■  Lecky,   "  The    American    Revolution,"    p.    45     (Woodburn's    Edition) ;    see 
also  Beer,  ch.  v. 

ioHoward,  "  Preliminaries  of  the  Revolution,"  p.  60. 


RUPTURE  WITH  MOTHER  COUNTRY  347 

must  be  said  that  the  navigation  laws  were  never  strictly  en- 
forced, and  the  revenue  acts  brought  little  or  nothing  into  the 
imperial  treasury;  in  fact,  it  not  infrequently  cost  seven  or 


John  Hancock 
Painting  by  J.   S.   Copley,   Fine  Art  Museum,   Boston 

eight  thousand  pounds  a  year  to  collect  two  thousand  pounds 
of  revenue.  The  total  remittance  from  the  colonies  on  an 
average  for  thirty  years  did  not  exceed  nineteen  hundred 
pounds  a  year,  the  expense  of  collection  being  not  less  than 
three  times  this  amount.11 

The  evasion  of  the  navigation  laws  by  smuggling  be- 

ii  Bancroft,  "History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  iii.  p.  31;  Beer,  "Com- 
mercial Policy,"  ch.  vii. 


THE    UNITED    STATES 

pfljnp  notorious,  and  the  British  customs  officials  made  little 
effort  to  put  a  stop  to  it,  if  they  did  not  actually  wink  at  it. 
Everywhere  public  sentiment  favored  it,  and  juries  returned 
verdicts  of  not  guilty  in  the  face  of  the  most  undoubted 
facts.  It  is  stated  by  an  impartial  authority  that  not  less 
than  nine-tenths  of  the  tea,  wine,  sugar  and  molasses  im- 
ported into  New  England  for  many  years  before  the  Revolu- 
tion were  smuggled  in  violation  of  the  acts  of  trade.12  Per- 
sons of  the  highest  social  standing  and  influence  in  New  Eng- 
land, like  John  Hancock,  of  Boston,  were  guilty  of  such  con- 
duct, and  it  was  not  regarded  as  reprehensible.  Even  dur- 
ing the  French  and  Indian  War,  when  the  mother  country 
was  straining  every  nerve  to  defeat  the  French,  it  was  found 
that  their  fleets  and  garrisons  were  systematically  supplied 
with  provisions  from  New  England,  the  highest  officials  con- 
niving at  it  on  the  ground  that  it  was  good  policy  to  make 
money  out  of  the  enemy. 

/\ftpr  thp  plnge  of  thp  French  and  Indian  War,  however, 
the  British  Government  felt  called  upon  to  adopt  a  new  pol- 
icy with  regard  to  the  administration  of  the  navigation  laws 
and  acts  of  trade.  ] George  Grenville,  who  now  became  prime 
minister,  was  resolved  to  enforce  the  laws  strictly,  and  if  pos- 
sible derive  a  revenue  therefrom  for  the  benefit  of  the  over- 
burdened imperial  treasury.  The  agencies  which  he  pur- 
posed to  employ  were  revenue  cutters,  admiralty  courts, 
without  juries,  commissioners  of  customs,  writs  of  assistance 
and  naval  forces.  Accordingly,  old  customs  officials  who  had 
grown  rich  by  bribery  were  dismissed  and  new  ones  sent  out 
to  the  colonies  with  strict  orders  to  enforce  the  laws  and  break 
up  smuggling.  But  the  smugglers  had  been  so  long  unmo- 
lested that  it  was  found  to  be  an  extremely  difficult  task  to 
discipline  them.  When,  therefore,  the  sloop  Liberty  was 
seized  for  violating  the  customs  laws,  a  Boston  mob  rescued 

izLecky,  "The  American  Revolution,"  p.  47. 


RUPTURE    WITH    MOTHER    COUNTRY     349 

the  cargo,  demolished  the  windows  of  the  collector's  house, 
dragged  his  boat  through  the  town,  publicly  burned  it  on  the 
Common,  and  compelled  the  customs  officials  to  take  refuge 
for  their  lives  on  the  British  man-of-war  Romney,  which 
lay  in  the  harbor.  Before  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution 
mobs  and  tar-and- feather  parties  had  become  so  active  in 
Boston  that  the  customs  officials  were  necessarily  compelled 
to  abandon  all  further  attempts  to  discharge  their  duties. 
To  enable  them  to  carry  out  effectively  orders,  they  had  been 
instructed  to  apply  to  the  courts  for  writs  of  assistance,  or 
general .  search  warrants,  empowering  them  to  search  any- 
where for  smuggled  goods.  This  was  an  extraordinary  pro- 
cedure, for  it  had  always  been  recognized  as  a  part  of  the 
common  law  that  the  premises  of  an  individual  could  be 
searched  only  in  pursuance  of  a  special  search  warrant,  par- 
ticularly describing  the  place  to  be  searched  and  the  things 
to  be  seized.  The  writ  of  assistance  neither  contained  the 
name  of  the  person  suspected  nor  described  the  premises  to 
be  searched;  it  was  good  for  an  indefinite  time,  was  not  re- 
turnable to  the  court,  and  authorized  seizure  at  all  hours.13 
When  Paxton,  the  chief  customs  official  at  Boston,  ap- 
plied to  the  chief  justice  of  the  Province,  Thomas  Hutchin- 
son, for  one  of  these  writs,  James  Otis,  who  had  recently  re- 
signed his  position  as  royal  advocate  for  the  colony,  appeared 
for  the  Boston  merchants  and  resisted  the  granting  of  the 
writ  as  unconstitutional.  Otis's  speech  was  a  powerful  one, 
and  had  a  profound  influence  on  the  popular  mind,  not  only 
in  New  England,  but  everywhere  in  the  English  colonies  of 
America.  He  described  the  hardships  of  the  colonies  on  ac- 
count of  the  Acts  of  Navigation  and  Trade,  denounced  the 
granting  of  writs  of  assistance  as  a  species  of  tyranny  such 
as  had  "  cost  one  king  of  England  his  head  and  another  his 

is  General  search  warrants  are  forbidden  by  the  fourth  amendment  to  the 
Federal  Constitution. 


350 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


throne,"  and  declared  that  taxation  without  representation 
was  tyranny.14  The  speech  stirred  the  people  of  the  country 
to  resistance  as  no  other  utterance  had  done,  and  made  the 
speaker  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  revolutionary  movement, 
which  had  now  set  in.  John  Adams,  then  a  Harvard  student, 
heard  the  oration,  took  notes  of  it,  and  long  afterwards,  in 
speaking  of  it,  declared  that  "  then  and  there  the  child  Inde- 
pendence was  born."  15     Although  Otis  lost  this  case  and 

the  writs  were  issued, 
yet  on  account  of  the 
strong  popular  oppo- 
sition which  he  had 
done  most  to  create, 
they  were  seldom  used 
thereafter. 

A  year  or  two 
later  a  note  of  resist- 
ance was  sounded  by  a 
southern  orator,  Pat- 
rick Henry,  who 
stirred  the  people  to 
even  greater  depths 
than  Otis  had  done. 
Henry  was  a  young 
lawyer  whose  early 
life  had  given  little 
promise  of  success, 
and  at  the  time  of  his 
speech  he  had  only  a  local  reputation.  Being  employed 
by  the  local  authorities  to  defend  the  people  in  the 
celebrated  Parsons  Cause,  to  which  allusion  has  already 
been    made,    Henry    took    occasion  to    denounce    the    ac- 

14  See  Hart's  "  American  History  Told  by  Contemporaries,"  vol.  ii.  No.  131. 
*■  Hosmer,  "  Life  of  Samuel  Adams,"  p.  44. 


James  Otis 
Painted  by  J.  D.  Blackburn 


RUPTURE    WITH    MOTHER    COUNTRY     351 

tion  of  the  Crown  in  vetoing  the  Virginia  law  relating  to  the 
salaries  of  the  clergy,  and  launched  forth  into  a  general  dis- 
cussion of  the  relations  between  the  mother  country  and  the 
colonies.  The  action  of  the  king,  he  declared,  was  arbitrary 
and  unwarranted ;  that  instead  of  being  a  father  to  his  peo- 
ple he  had  "  degenerated  into  a  tyrant  and  had  forfeited  all 
right  to  the  obedience  of  his  subjects."  This  was  indeed  bold 
language  for  a  subject  of  George  III.  to  utter,  but  the  cries 
of  treason  with  which  he  was  greeted  by  some  of  his  hearers 
did  not  deter  him  from  proceeding  with  his  oration.16 
Henry's  fame  as  an  orator  spread  rapidly  throughout  the 
colonies,  and  the  courage  with  which  he  had  publicly  de- 
nounced British  tyranny  made  him,  with  Otis,  one  of  the 
leading  pioneers  of  the  Revolution. 

Next    tO    the    mCoTOement    Of   the    Navigation    Igwc    tVig 

chief  feature  of  the  Orenville  policy  was  thp  proposition  fo 
maintain  a  standing  army  in  America  and  levy  a  tax  on  th^ 
colonists  to  defray  a  part  of  the  expense  for  its  support.  Al- 
though the  danger  to  the  colonists  from  the  French  had  been 
removed,  in  the  opinion  of  the  home  government  a  small 
standing  army  was  required  in  America  for  the  maintenance 
of  a  "  stable  government  "  among  the  French  colonists  who 
had  been  subjected  to  British  rule,  while  protection  against 
the  western  Indians  was  now  needed,  as  the  recent  con- 
spiracy of  Pontiac  seemed  to  show.17 

The  number  of  troops  necessary  for  this  purpose  was 
estimated  at  not  less  than  20,000,  besides  a  proportionate 
number  of  officers.  The  estimated  expense  for  the  military 
and  civil  establishment  was  300,000  pounds  sterling,  one-third 
of  which  it  was  proposed  to  collect  from  the  colonists  in  the 
form  of  import  duties  and  a  stamp  tax.  It  was  said  in  justi- 
fication of  the  proposition  to  tax  the  colonies  that  the  French 

is  Tyler,  "Life  of  Patrick  Henry,"  p.  48. 

!7  Winsor,  "  Narrative  and  Critical  History,"  vol.  vi.  p.  688  et  seq. 


852 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


and  Indian  War,  so  glorious  to  the  empire  and  to  the  colon- 
ies in  America,  had  added  140,000,000  pounds  sterling  to  the 
British  national  debt,  and  that  the  people  of  the  United  King- 
dom, already  staggering  under  the  weight  of  the  load,  ob- 


U2f7^% 


Gfr 


(C)yto^dc<<J/it 


jected  to  the  imposition  of  additional  burdens,  while  the 
colonists  in  whose  interest  the  war  had  been  largely  waged 
went  free.   Moreover,  it  was  said  that  as  the  primary  purpose 

qf  gpnrh'ng  thg  trnnpg  tn  AmprW  wag  fn  protect  the  Colonists, 

they  ought  not  to  object  to  bearing  a  share  of  the  expense.  It 
was  readily  admitted  that  so  far  as  the  expense  of  conducting 


RUPTURE    WITH    MOTHER    COUNTRY     353 

the  war  was  concerned,  they  had  borne  their  share,  but  that 
was  no  reason,  Grenville  insisted,  why  they  should  seek  to  es- 
cape the  burdens  which  the  results  of  the  war  had  entailed 
upon  the  empire. 

Every  source  of  revenue  at  home  had  been  diaifled,  and 
the  ministry  now  as  a  sort  of  last  resort  turned  to  their  pros- 
perous colonies  of  America,  on  which  the  empire  had  during 
the  last  fifty  years  expended  over  30,000,000  pounds  sterling 
for  their  maintenance.  England  and  Ireland  each  main- 
tained, it  was  said,  its  own  army,  and  the  American  colonies 
should  do  the  same.  They  were  not  to  be  asked  to  contribute 
a  penny  for  the  support  of  the  navy  which  protected  their 
coasts,  or  to  the  payment  of  interest  on  the  national  debt, 
a  large  part  of  which  had  been  incurred  in  their  own  behalf. 
To  make  the  proposition  as  palatable  as  possible,  Grenville 
proposed  that  none  of  the  revenue  collected  in  America 
should  pass  to  the  imperial  exchequer,  and  thus  drain  the 
colonies  of  their  specie,  but  that  every  farthing  of  it  should 
be  expended  in  America  for  their  defense,  protection  and 
security.18 

In  explanation  of  the  reason  why  a  stamp  tax  had 
been  decided  upon,  Grenville  stated  that  it  seemed  to  him  to 
be  the  most  equitable  and  easy  of  collection,  and  as  it  had 
been  variously  recommended  by  Americans  years  before,  he 
did  not  think  it  would  meet  with  opposition.  He  stated, 
furthermore,  that  if  it  was  objectionable  to  the  colonists  and 
they  preferred  to  raise  the  money  in  some  other  way,  it  would 
be  agreeable  to  him.  He  seemed  anxious  to  know  the  senti- 
ments of  the  leaders  of  public  opinion  in  America  on  his  pro- 
posed scheme,  and  called  in  Benjamin  Franklin,  who  was 
then  acting  as  the  agent  of  several  of  the  colonies  at  London, 
and  requested  his  views.  Franklin  told  him  frankly  that  the 
stamp  tax  would  meet  with  strong  opposition  in  America,  not 

is  Lecky,  "  American  Revolution,"  ch.  xi. 


354  THE    UNITED    STATES 

because  it  was  objectionable  in  itself,  but  because  the  colonies 
denied  the  right  of  Parliament  to  tax  them  in  any  shape  or 
form  except  such  as  might  be  incidental  in  the  regulation  of 
their  foreign  commerce.19  He  pointed  out  that  they  drew  a 
distinction  between  "  internal  "  and  "  external "  taxes,  the 
former  having  reference  to  such  as  were  intended  to  raise 
revenue,  the  latter  to  such  as  had  to  do  with  the  regulation 
of  trade,  and  that  while  they  admitted  the  right  of  Parlia- 
ment to  impose  the  latter,  they  denied  its  right  to  levy  the 
former.  But  this  distinction,  which,  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted, was  wholly  illogical  as  a  matter  of  constitutional  law, 
was  not  recognized  by  all  colonial  statesmen,  and  in  fact  both 
James  Otis  and  Governor  Hutchinson  of  Massachusetts 
publicly  declared  that  there  was  no  foundation  for  it.20 

As  to  the  legal  competence  of  Parliament  to  tax  the 
colonies,  the  highest  authorities  still  differ.  Probably  the 
weight  of  opinion  is  in  favor  of  the  right  as  claimed,  although 
it  is  worth  remarking  that  of  all  the  charters  granted  to  the 
colonies,  only  that  of  Pennsylvania  expressly  reserved  the 
right  of  taxation  to  Parliament.  Aside  from  the  question  of 
constitutional  competence,  the  colonists  opposed  the  Gren- 
ville  scheme,  first,  on  the  ground  that  they  had  not  asked  for 
the  troops,  that  they  did  not  want  them,  and  that  they  were 
able  to  protect  themselves  against  the  imaginary  dangers 
which  the  British  statesmen  had  conjured  up  in  their  minds. 
Moreover,  the  French  and  Indian  War  had  been  waged  not 
primarily  in  their  interests,  but  in  the  interests  of  the  realm 
of  which  they  were  not  a  part.  By  monopolizing  their  trade 
and  commerce  the  British  government  had  received,  in  the 
form  of  profits  and  other  benefits,  more  than  the  colonial 

is  For  a  fair  and  reasonable  statement  of  the  British  view,  see  Lecky, 
"  History  of  Europe  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,"  vol.  iii. ;  reprinted  also  in  his 
"American  Revolution"  (edited  by  Woodburn),  ch.  xi. 

20  Also  compare  Bancroft,  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  iii.  pp. 
79,  82,  85. 


RUPTURE    WITH    MOTHER    COUNTRY     355 

share  of  the  expense  necessary  to  provide  for  their  protection. 
This  was  their  contribution  to  the  imperial  treasury,  and  it 
was  enough,  as  they  believed.  Taxation  by  a  Parliament 
3,000  miles  away,  in  which  they  had  no  representation,  would 
mean  a  destruction  of  their  liberties,  and  the  reduction  of  the 
people  "  from  the  character  of  free  subjects  to  the  miser- 
able state  of  tributary  slavery."21  But  it  was  said  in 
answer  to  this  objection  that  under  the  rotten  borough  system 
then  existing  in  England  nine-tenths  of  the  people  of  the 
United  Kingdom  were  virtually  unrepresented  in  Parlia- 
ment, and  that  in  this  respect  Boston  and  Philadelphia  were 
no  worse  off  than  Manchester,  Sheffield,  and  other  English 
cities. 

What  the  colonists  really  objected  to  was  taxation  with- 
out their  consent;  they  did  not  object  to  making  voluntary 
contributions  through  their  legislative  assemblies  to  the  im- 
perial treasury  when  called  upon  to  do  so.  "  The  imposition 
of  our  own  taxes,"  declared  the  Assembly  of  North  Carolina, 
"  is  our  inherent  right  and  exclusive  privilege."  22  In  the 
course  of  Franklin's  interview  with  Grenville,  he  entered  into 
a  defense  of  the  old  method  of  requisitions,  whereupon  Gren- 
ville inquired  if  the  thirteen  colonial  legislatures  could  agree 
upon  the  proportion  each  colony  should  raise,  adding  that  it 
had  been  shown  to  be  impossible  to  induce  them  to  do  so  dur- 
ing the  late  war.  Franklin  was,  of  course,  obliged  to  return 
a  negative  answer.  Reliance  upon  voluntary  contributions 
was  wholly  insufficient,  and  the  government  was  determined 
to  levy  and  collect  the  tax  directly  without  the  intervention  of 
the  local  legislatures. 

In  March,  1765,  the  Stamp  Act,  without  attracting  un- 
usual attention,  and  without  exciting  serious  opposition, 
passed  both  Houses  of  Parliament  and  received  the  assent  of 

2i  Otis,  "  Rights  of  the  British  Colonies  Asserted,"  p.  100  et  seq. 
22  "  Colonial  Records  of  North  Carolina,"  vol.  vi.  p.  1261. 


356 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


Tax  Stamp 


the  king.  It  provided  that  bills,  bonds,  leases,  insurance 
policies,  newspapers,  broadsides  and  legal  documents  used  in 
America  should  be  written  on  stamped  paper,  and  that  the 
proceeds  therefrom  should  be  applied  exclusively  to  the  pro- 
tection of  the  colonies.  The  Act  was  to  go  into  effect  on  the 
first  of  November  following.  To  soften  the  opposition,  the 
distribution  of  the  stamps  was  to  be  left  to  the  colonists,  and 
their  agents  at  London  were  requested  to 
recommend  suitable  persons  for  appointment 
as  stamp  distributers — a  request  with  which 
they  readily  complied.  An  objectionable  fea- 
ture of  the  Act  was  the  provision  that 
offenses  arising  under  the  law  were  not  to  be 
tried  by  juries,  the  popular  belief  in  England 
being  that  no  jury  could  be  found  in  the 
colonies  which  would  convict  a  violator  of  such  an  unpopular 
law.  This  feature,  however,  was  of  little  consequence;  it 
was  the  principle  of  the  Act  to  which  the  colonists  objected, 
and  their  opposition  proved  to  be  out  of  all  proportion  to 
what  the  government  had  expected.23  Indeed,  the  calm 
judgment  of  the  present  day  must  be  that  the  law  was  not 
necessarily  an  evil  or  tyrannical  measure.  It  had  years  be- 
fore been  recommended  by  the  governors  of  sev- 
eral colonies,  and  at  the  time  little  objection  was 
raised.24  To-day  the  government  of  the  United 
States  imposes  taxes  on  its  colonial  subjects  be- 
yond the  seas,  although  they  are  not  only 
unrepresented  in  Congress,  but  have  very  few  rights  of  local 
self-government,  and  whether  the  policy  be  right  or  wrong 
it  is  the  same  in  principle  as  that  to  which  our  forefathers 
objected  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution. 

When  the  news  of  the  enactment  of  the  law  reached 


Tax  Stamp 


23  Frothingham,  "  Rise  of  the  Republic,"  p.  177,  et  seq. 

24  Howard,  "  Preliminaries  of  the   Revolution,"  p.  121. 


RUPTURE    WITH    MOTHER    COUNTRY     359 

America  a  wave  of  indignation  swept  over  the  colonies, 
and  here  and  there  impassioned  speakers  urged  the  people 
to  resist  the  execution  of  the  law.  The  Virginia  House  of 
Burgesses,  aroused  by  the  fiery  eloquence  of  Patrick  Henry, 
who  asserted  in  the  course  of  a  notable  speech  that  George 
III.  might  suffer  the  fate  of  Caesar  and  Charles  I.  if  he  did 
not  "  profit  by  their  example,"  passed  a  series  of  resolutions 
declaring  that  the  people  of  the  colonies  were  entitled  to  all 
the  privileges  of  natural  born  subjects  of  England;  that  the 
colonial  assemblies  had  the  exclusive  right  to  levy  taxes  upon 
the  inhabitants  of  America;  and  that  every  attempt  of  Par- 
liament or  of  any  other  authority  outside  the  colonies  to  exer- 
cise such  power  was  unconstitutional,  unjust  and  destructive 
of  the  liberties  of  the  colonists.25 

.  The  announcement  of  the  arrival  of  the  stamps  in 
August  was  at  once  followed  by  riots  and  disorders  in 
various  parts  of  America.  Stamp  distributers  were 
hanged  in  effigy  and  forced  to  resign  their  positions, 
the  supply  of  stamps  was  seized  and  destroyed,  and  in 
some  cases  the  records  of  the  courts  were  burned.  In  Boston 
especially  were  the  disorders  serious.  The  house  of  Lieuten- 
ant Governor  Hutchinson,  the  finest  in  the  town,  was  sacked, 
his  large  library,  containing  rare  and  valuable  books,  burned, 
and  his  plate,  furniture  and  public  records  destroyed.  The 
houses  of  other  prominent  supporters  of  the  government 
were  similarly  plundered,  and  some  of  the  leading  sympathi- 
zers with  the  government  were  compelled  to  flee  from  the 
colony. 

In  New  York  the  effigy  of  the  goveFnor  was  par- 
aded with  that  of  the  devil  around  the  town  and  publicly 
burned.  Non-importation  agreements  were  entered  into  by 
the  citizens;  bells  were  tolled  and  flags  placed  at  half-mast, 
and  organizations  known  as  "  Sons  of  Liberty  "  were  formed 

25  Tyler,  "  Patrick  Henry,"  p.  62. 


360  THE    UNITED    STATES 

everywhere.  Not  a  box  of  stamps  could  be  found  in  the 
colonies,  not  a  legal  document  was  properly  stamped,  and 
the  newspapers  appeared  with  a  death's-head  in  the  place  of 
the  stamp  required.  It  was  found  absolutely  impossible  to 
enforce  the  law,  and  the  governors  were  compelled  to 
authorize  non-compliance  with  it.26 

Meantime,  at  the  instance  of  James  Otis,  the  Massachu- 
setts General  Court  had  issued  a  call  for  a  general  congress 
to  take  into  consideration  the  state  of  affairs  caused  by  the 
British  Government.  In  response  to  this  call  delegates  from 
nine  colonies,  practically  all  whose  legislatures  were  in  ses- 
sion during  the  summer,  met  at  New  York  on  October  7, 
and  drew  up  a  Declaration  of  Rights  and  addressed  petitions 
to  the  king  and  to  both  Houses  of  Parliament.27  The  Dec- 
laration of  Rights  asserted  that  while  the  colonists  owed  al- 
legiance to  the  Crown  they  were  entitled  to  the  same  liberties 
as  natural  born  subjects,  that  for  geographical  reasons  they 
could  not  be  represented  in  the  British  Parliament,  and  that 
no  authority  beyond  their  local  legislatures  could  levy  taxes 
upon  them. 

It  was  now  clear  that  they  were  determined  to  re- 
sist the  execution  of  the  law,  and  the  proceedings  described 
above  soon  showed  that  they  were  quite  able  to  do  so  with 
marked  success.  English  merchants  were  suffering  from 
the  loss  of  American  trade  caused  by  the  non-importation 
agreements.  Besides,  the  requirement  that  the  new  duties 
should  be  paid  in  specie  and  the  cutting  off  of  the  supply 
from  the  West  Indies  by  the  strict  enforcement  of  the  Acts 
of  Trade  made  it  impossible  to  import  manufactured  articles 
from  England,  and  compelled  the  colonies  to  depend  upon 
home  industries.     Thus  American  trade  with  the  mother 


26  Lecky,  "  The  American  Revolution,"  p.  84. 

27  Frothingham,   "Rise   of   the    Republic,"   p.    188;     Fiske,   "The   American 
Revolution,"  vol.  i.  pp.  22-23. 


RUPTURE    WITH    MOTHER    COUNTRY     361 

country  was  reduced  to  a  minimum.  Thousands  of  artisans 
were  thrown  out  of  employment,  and  petitions  from  all  over 
the  United  Kingdom  poured  in  upon  Parliament  praying 
for  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act.28  At  this  junction  the  un- 
popular Grenville  ministry  fell,  and  was  succeeded  by  a  new 
one  formed  by  the  Marquis  of  Rockingham. 

Under  the  leadership  of  the  new  ministry  Parliament, 
in  January,  1766,  took  up  the  question  of  the  repeal  of  the 
Stamp  Act,  and  in  order  to  ascertain  as  nearly  as  possible  the 
sentiments  of  the  colonists,  Benjamin  Franklin,  then  resid- 
ing at  London  as  colonial  agent,  was  summoned  before 
the  bar  of  the  House  of  Commons  and  interrogated  on  the 
situation  in  America.  He  told  the  Commons  that  the  people 
of  America  felt  a  genuine  pride  in  being  a  part  of  the  great 
British  Empire,  and  that  they  had  a  real  attachment  for  those 
of  the  old  world  with  whom  they  were  so  closely  connected 
by  ties  of  blood  and  interest,  but  that  they  denied  the  right  of 
the  imperial  government  to  tax  them  without  their  consent, 
sjnce  the  colonies  were  unrepresented  in  Parliament,  and 
since  they  were  not  a  part  of  the  realm — not  a  part  of  the 
dominions  of  England,  but  of  the  king's  dominions.  They 
were,  he  insisted,  subordinate  only  to  the  king,  both  in  mat- 
ters of  legislation  and  taxation ;  that  he^alone  was  the  bond 
of  union  between  them  and  England.  In  the  course  of  his 
examination  Franklin  dispelled  many  popular  illusions  con- 
cerning the  colonies,  and  produced  convincing  proof  of  their 
determination  to  resist  to  the  bitter  end  the  attempt  of  Par- 
liament to  tax  them. 

Next  to  Franklin's  examination  the  principal  feature  of 
the  session  was  the  great  speeches  of  Burke  and  Pitt  in  be- 
half of  the  rights  of  the  colonists  and  the  profound  constitu- 
tional discussions  of  Lords  Mansfield  and  Camden.     Pitt 

28  Helen    Hodges,   "Repeal   of   the   Stamp    Act,"    in    The   Political   Science 
Quarterly,  June,  1904. 


362  THE    UNITED    STATES 

was  the  foremost  champion  of  the  rights  of  the  colonists. 
Rising  from  a  bed  of  sickness,  he  dragged  himself  into  the 
House  of  Commons  and  entered  an  eloquent  protest  against 
what  he  regarded  as  the  wicked  and  short-sighted  policy  of 


Edmund  Burke 
Painting  by  James  Barry,  R.  A. 

the  government.  "The  kingdom,"  he  declared,  "has  no 
right  to  lay  a  tax  on  the  colonies  because  they  are  unrepresen- 
ted in  Parliament.  The  Commons  of  America,  represented 
in  their  assemblies,  have  ever  been  in  possession  of  this 
their  constitutional  right  of  giving  and  granting  money. 
They  would  have  been  slaves  without  it.      I  rejoice  that 


RUPTURE    WITH    MOTHER    COUNTRY     363 

America  has  resisted.  Three  millions  of  people  so  dead  to 
all  the  feelings  of  liberty  as  voluntarily  to  submit  to  be  slaves 
would  have  been  fit  instruments  to  make  slaves  of  the  rest." 
The  profits  of  Great  Britain  from  the  colonies,  he  said,  were 
not  less  than  2,000,000  pounds  a  year,  and  this  was  price 
enough  for  them  to  pay  for  their  protection.29 

Lord  Camden,  in  the  House  of  Lords,  spoke  in  a  similar 
strain.  "  Taxation  and  representation,"  he  declared,  "  are 
inseparable."  Both  Pitt  and  Camden,  however,  admitted  the 
right  of  Parliament  to  regulate  colonial  trade,  and  insisted 
that  there  was  "  a  plain  distinction  between  taxes  levied 
for  the  purpose  of  raising  revenue  and  duties  imposed  for 
the  regulation  of  trade,"  although  the  latter  might  inciden- 
tally yield  revenue.  Conway,  Burke,  Rockingham  and  others 
argued  in  favor  of  repeal  on  the  ground  of  expediency  with- 
out reference  to  the  legal  right  of  Parliament  to  tax  the 
colonies. 

Lord  Mansfield,  on  the  other  hand,  speaking  for  the 
opposition,  upheld  the  right  of  Parliament  to  impose  the 
tax,  pronounced  the  distinction  between  external  and  inter- 
nal taxes  fallacious,  and  declared  that  the  colonies  were  as 
much  represented  in  Parliament  as  were  the  non-voters  of 
England.  "  The  notion,"  he  said,  "  that  every  subject 
must  be  represented  by  deputy,  if  he  does  not  vote  in  Parlia- 
ment himself,  is  merely  ideal,"  and  that  the  imperial  legis- 
lature had  "  authority  to  bind  every  part  of  and  every  sub- 
ject without  the  least  distinction,  whether  such  subjects  have 
a  right  to  vote  or  not,  or  whether  the  law  binds  places  within 
the  realm  or  without."  The  outcome  of  all  this  remarkable 
debate  was  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act,  but  to  lighten  the 
fall  of  the  ministry  as  much  as  possible,  the  repealing  act  was 
accompanied  by  a  "  Declaratory  Act  "  affirming  the  right  of 

29  See  Pitt's  speech  in  Hart's  "  American  History  Told  by  Contemporaries," 
vol.  ii.  No.  142. 


THE    UNITED    STATES 

Parliament  to  legislate  for  the  colonies  in  all  cases  whatso- 
ever, and  the  subordination  of  the  Americans  to  the  Crown 
and  Parliament  of  Great  Britain.30 

Benjamin  Franklin  doubtless  expressed  the  general 
opinion  of  the  colonists  when  he  stated  that  the  "Declara- 
tory Act  "  would  cause  little  concern  if  no  attempt  was  ever 
made  to  put  it  into  effect.31  The  announcement  of  the  re- 
peal was  followed  by  general  rejoicing  in  America.  The 
colonial  assemblies  voted  thanks  to  the  king,  Pitt,  Camden 
and  others ;  the  Quakers  of  Pennsylvania  showed  their  loyalty 
on  the  king's  birthday  by  donning  suits  of  English  cloth, 
giving  their  homespun  garments  to  the  poor,  and  in  mam 
towns  statues  were  erected  in  honor  of  the  king  and  the  Great 
Commoner.  Speaking  a  few  years  later  of  these  evidences 
of  loyalty,  Pitt  declared  that  "  the  Americans  had  almost 
forgot  in  the  excess  of  their  gratitude  for  the  repeal  of  the 
Stamp  Act  any  interest  except  for  the  mother  country ;  that 
there  seemed  an  emulation  among  the  different  provinces  as 
to  who  should  be  the  most  dutiful  and  forward  in  their  ex- 
pressions of  loyalty." 

The  Rockingham  ministry  fell  shortly  after  the  repeal 
of  the  Stamp  Act,  and  Pitt,  who  had  just  recently  been  made 
a  peer  with  the  title  of  Earl  of  Chatham,  became  the  head  of 
a  coalition  ministry  consisting  of  various  elements,  including 
even  Tories.32  On  account  of  ill  health,  however,  he  was 
compelled  to  relinquish  the  active  management  of  the  gov- 
ernment to  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  Charles  Town- 
shend,  an  able  and  brilliant  statesman,  but  sadly  lacking  in 
Pitt's  foresight  and  conciliatory  disposition.  Townshend 
assumed  the  reins  of  government  with  the  full  determination 
of  enforcing  the  Declaratory  Act,   and  of  showing  the 

soWinsor,  "Narrative  and  Critical  History,"  vol.  vi.  p.  32, 
3i  "  Parliamentary  History,"  vol.  xvi.  p.  145. 
32Fiske,  "The  American  Revolution,"  vol.  i.  p.  28. 


RUPTURE  WITH  MOTHER  COUNTRY  365 

colonists  that  England  was  still  their  master.  Accordingly, 
he  passed  (1767)  a  series  of  bills  commonly  known  as  the 
Townshend  Acts.  One  of  these,  evidently  drawn  with  due 
deference  to  the  colonial  distinction  between  "  external  "  and 
"  internal  "  taxes,  provided  for  the  levying  of  a  customs  tax 
on  tea,  wine,  oil,  glass,  paper,  lead  and  painters'  colors  im- 
ported into  the  colonies ;  another  provided  that  the  salaries  of 
the  colonial  judges  and  governors  should  be  paid  out  of  the 
royal  treasury  instead  of  out  of  the  colonial  treasuries,  as  a 
means  of  rendering  these  officials  independent  of  the  local 
assemblies;  and  another  act  legalized  writs  of  assistance  and 
gave  the  admiralty  courts  jurisdiction  of  offenses  against  the 
revenue  laws  without  the  benefit  of  a  jury.  To  provide  for 
the  more  efficient  administration  of  the  revenue  laws  a  board 
of  customs  commissioners,  with  large  powers  of  supervision, 
was  created.  Finally,  because  the  legislature  of  New  York 
had  refused  to  provide  quarters  and  supplies  for  the  British 
troops  stationed  in  the  city  of  New  York,  as  required  by  a 
previous  act,  Parliament  suspended  its  function.33  These 
several  acts  constituted  severe  infringements  upon  the  right 
of  trial  by  jury,  the  right  of  local  self-government,  and  the 
independence  of  the -judiciary  of  the  colonies,  aroused  them 
to  a  high  pitch  of  indignation  and  drove  them  still  further  to 
resist  the  measures  of  the  home  government.  Everywhere 
non-importation  agreements  were  proposed  for  the  purpose 
of  boycotting  English  products,  while  men  like  Samuel 
Adams  in  Massachusetts,  John  Dickinson  in  Pennsylvania, 
and  Patrick  Henry  in  Virginia  stirred  the  masses  to  the 
verge  of  rebellion  by  their  impassioned  eloquence. 

In  the  year  following  the  enactment  of  these  laws, 
Townshend  was  succeeded  as  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  by 
Lord  North,  but  no  change  of  policy  toward  the  colonists 

ssFiske,  "American  Revolution,"  vol.  i.  p.  30;  Frothingham,  "Rise  of  the 
Republic,"  p.  205;  Winsor,  "Narrative  and  Critical  History,"  vol.  vi.  p.  35. 


S66 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


was  made.  In  February,  1768,  the  Massachusetts  legislature 
passed  certain  resolutions  setting  forth  the  rights  of  the 
colonists,  and  sent  a  circular  letter  to  the  assemblies 
of  the  other  colonies  inviting  them  to  take  similar  action. 


Samuel    Adams 
Painting  by  Johnston 

The  British  authorities  took  great  offense  at  these  proceed- 
ings, and  instructed  the  governor  to  demand  the  recall  of 
the  circular.  This  the  assembly  refused  to  do,  where- 
upon the  governor  dissolved  it,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
other  assemblies  were  warned  not  to  follow  the  example 
of  Massachusetts.      Some  of  them  did  not  heed  the  royal 


RUPTURE    WITH    MOTHER    COUNTRY     367 

admonition,  however,  and  were  promptly  punished  by 
dissolution. 

J  The  Virginia  Assembly  in  particular  showed  unusual 
boldness  and  determination.  In  May,  1769,  it  passed  a  series 
of  resolutions  emphatically  denying  the  right  of  England  to 
tax  the  colonies,  affirming  their  right  to  act  in  concert  to  se- 
cure a  redress  of  grievances,  and  denouncing  in  strong 
language  the  Parliamentary  suggestion  that  the  king  should 
transport  to  England  for  trial  all  persons  in  America 
charged  with  treason.34  Being  dissolved  by  the  governor, 
the  legislature  repaired  to  a  near-by  tavern,  where  the  mem- 
bers entered  into  a  solemn  agreement  not  to  use  any  goods 
imported  from  England  which  were  taxed  under  the  Town- 
shend  law.  Similar  agreements  were  entered  into  in  the  other 
colonies,  and  by  this  means  English  merchants  were 
soon  forced  by  loss  of  trade  to  exert  all  the  pressure  they 
could  command  to  secure  the  repeal  of  the  Townshend 
duties. 

The  importation  of  the  taxed  commodities  became  so 
inconsiderable  and  the  expense  of  collection  so  great  on  ac- 
count of  the  elaborate  administrative  machinery  necessary  to 
prevent  smuggling,  that  the  revenue  obtained  was  scarcely 
worth  the  trouble;  indeed,  it  is  stated  that  the  total  net 
amount  derived  from  the  Townshend  law  was  but  295 
pounds  above  the  cost  of  collection,  while  the  increased  ex- 
penditures made  necessary  by  the  local  opposition  exceeded 

170,000  pounds.  As  fl  rpvpnnp  paadltfgg  therefore,  the 
Townshend  law  was  a  failure,  and  was  repealed  in  April, 
1770.  except  that  the  duty  on  tea,  glass  and  painters'  colors 
was  retained  more  to  serve  as  a  precedent  in  case  of  future 
taxation  than  anything  else.  The  partial  repeal  of  the  act, 
however,  did  not  allay  the  opposition,  because  the  principle 
involved  had  not  been  abandoned  by  the  British  Government. 

34  Frothingham,  "Rise  of  the  Republic,"  p.  234. 


368  THE    UNITED    STATES 

The  attempt  to  enforce  the  unpopular  law  had  been  at- 
tended by  riots  and  disorders,  and  at  times  Boston,  in  par- 
ticular, was  well-nigh  at  the  mercy  of  mob  rule.  Informers 
were  tarred  and  feathered  and  led  through  the  streets,  and 
English  goods  belonging  to  merchants  were  destroyed. 

In  March,  1770,  occurred  one  of  these  conflicts,  which 
has  come  down  to  us  as  the  "  Boston  Massacre."  To  pre- 
serve order  and  aid  the  revenue  officials  in  the  discharge  of 
their  duties,  several  regiments  of  troops  had  recently  been 
sent  to  Boston,  and  their  presence  in  the  town  had  from  the 
first  served  to  excite  popular  indignation.  On  March  5 
a  party  of  soldiers,  provoked  by  the  action  of  a  crowd  of 
men  and  boys  who  taunted  them  with  such  epithets  as 
"  lobsters  "  and  "  bloody  backs,"  and  dared  them  to  shoot, 
fired  into  the  crowd  and  killed  several  of  their  number.  Im- 
mediately the  town  was  in  an  uproar.  The  cry  was  raised 
that  the  "  bloody  and  brutal  myrmidons  of  England  had  shot 
down  the  inoffensive  citizens  of  Boston."  The  church 
bells  were  rung,  drums  called  the  people  to  arms,  and  an 
immense  meeting  Df  the  citizens  resolved  that  the  soldiers 
must  go. 

Lieutenant  Governor  Hutchinson  was  waited  on  by  a 
committee  and  informed  of  the  action  of  the  meeting.  He 
hesitated,  and  endeavored  to  make  excuses,  but  the  meeting 
remained  in  session  and  demanded  a  positive  answer  before 
nightfall.  Under  these  circumstances  Hutchinson  yielded, 
and  removed  the  troops  to  Fort  William,  in  the  harbor,  three 
miles  from  the  city.35  The  soldiers  accused  of  the  murder 
of  the  citizens  were  placed  on  trial  and  were  defended  by  two 
of  the  leading  patriots  of  the  colony,  John  Adams  and  Josiah 
Quincy.  They  were  all  acquitted  by  a  local  jury  except  two, 
who  were  convicted  of  manslaughter  and  given  slight 
punishments. 

35Lecky,  "American  Revolution,"  pp.  128-129. 


Copyright,  1905,  by  John  D.  Morris  &  Company 

The  Boston  Massacre 
Drawing  by  F.  T.  Merrill 


RUPTURE  WITH  MOTHER  COUNTRY 


371 


Already  in  the  year  1771  the  battle  of  Alamance,  some- 
times called  the  first  of  the  Revolution,  had  occurred  in  North 
Carolina  between  the  troops  of  the  royalist  Governor  Tryon 
and  a  band  of  "  regulators,"  who,  being  goaded  by  extortion 
and  unlawful  imprisonment,  had  risen  in  rebellion  against 
the  royal  authorities.36  In  the  course  of  a  severe  fight  they 
were  defeated,  two  hundred  of  their  number  being  killed, 


Copyright,  1905,  by  John  D.  Morris  &  Company 
Destruction  of  the  Schooner  *k  Gaspee  "  in  the  Waters  of  Rhode  Island,  1772 
Painting   by  J.  McNevin 

while  several  were  captured  and  hanged  for  treason.  An 
incident  in  1772  which  attracted  wide  attention,  and  which 
had  important  consequences,  was  the  Gaspee  affair.  The 
Gaspee  was  an  armed  British  schooner  which  was  engaged 
in  patrolling  the  coasts  of  Narragansett  Bay  to  prevent 
violation  of  the  revenue  laws.  The  conduct  of  the  com- 
mander in  trying  to  perform  his  duty  greatly  offended  the 
inhabitants  living  along  the  coast,  who  made  complaints, 

se  Fiske,  **  American  Revolution,"  vol.  i.  p.  75. 


372  THE    UNITED    STATES 

without  result.  Finally,  one  day  in  June,  while  chasing  an 
American  vessel,  the  Gaspee  ran  aground,  and  on  the  follow- 
ing evening  she  was  boarded  by  a  party  of  respectable  citi- 
zens, who  burned  the  vessel  to  the  water's  edge.  The  British 
authorities  were  furious  at  this  outrage  and  ordered  their  ar- 
rest and  delivery  up  for  transportation  to  England  for  trea- 
son, but  no  evidence  could  be  obtained  against  them,  although 
probably  every  person  in  the  community  knew  who  the  guilty 
parties  were. 

Moreover,  the  chief  justice,  Stephen  Hopkins,  after- 
wards one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, openly  declared  that  he  would  not  take  cognizance 
of  any  case  arising  out  of  the  affair,  and  that  no  one  of  the 
accused  should  be  removed  from  the  colony  for  trial  in  Eng- 
land or  elsewhere.  Arising  from  the  event  was  the  ap- 
pointment by  the  Virginia  House  of  Burgesses  of  a  "  com- 
mittee of  correspondence  "  to  ascertain  the  facts  concerning 
the  burning  of  the  Gaspee  and  "  to  maintain  a  correspond- 
ence with  our  sister  colonies."  37  Half  a  dozen  other  colonies 
soon  followed  the  example  of  Virginia,  and  thus  was  created 
a  system  of  revolutionary  machinery  that  in  time  was 
adopted  generally  in  America  and  proved  of  inestimable 
value  in  bringing  about  concert  of  action  among  the 
colonies.38 

All  these  evidences  of  a  mistaken  policy  had  no  effect  on 
George  III.,  who  was  not  only  dull,  but  vindictive.  He  was 
resolved  to  try  the  issue  with  the  Americans  regardless  of 
consequences.  To  force  them  to  pay  the  duty  on  tea  he  hit 
upon  an  ingenious  scheme.  At  this  time  the  financial  affairs 
of  the  English  East  India  Company  were  in  a  bad  way, 
partly  because  Americans  were  no  longer  buying  tea  from 
England,  but  were  smuggling  it  from  Holland.     Being 

37  Charming,  "History  of  the  United  States,"  p.  181. 

38  Frothingham,  "  Rise  of  the  Republic,"  pp.  280-283. 


RUPTURE    WITH    MOTHER    COUNTRY     373 

anxious  to  help  the  English  East  India  Company  out  of  its 
straits,  and  at  the  same  time  induce  the  Americans  to  buy 
English  tea,  it  was  decided  to  make  the  English  article 
cheaper  than  the  Dutch  tea,  which  had  to  be  smuggled.  Ac- 
cordingly, the  English  East  India  Company  was  allowed 
a  drawback  on  the  tea  which  it  imported  into  England  from 
the  Orient  and  reexported  to  America.  The  remission  of 
the  customary  duty  enabled  the  English  company  to  under- 
sell the  Dutch  East  India  Company,  and  of  course  it  was 
believed  that  the  Americans  would  buy  the  cheaper  article 
(it  was  only  threepence  per  pound),  and  thus  admit  the 
principle  involved  in  the  duty  collected  in  America.39  But 
this  assumption  proved  wholly  unwarranted.  The  scheme 
thus  ingeniously  devised  to  inveigle  them  into  paying  the 
duty  was  too  thinly  veiled  to  cover  its  real  purpose,  and  they 
determined  not  to  be  ensnared  by  it. 

In  the  autumn  of  1773  several  cargoes  of  tea  were  sent 
to  America  consigned  to  agents  at  Boston,  New  York,  Phila- 
delphia and  Charleston.  In  several  of  these  cities  indignation 
meetings  were  held  and  the  consignees  forced  to  resign  their 
commissions.  In  Charleston  the  tea  was  offered  for  sale  by 
the  customs  officials  to  pay  the  duty,  but  nobody  would  buy, 
and  it  was  stored  in  damp  cellars,  only  to  rot.  In  Philadel- 
phia a  town  meeting  was  held  and  a  resolution  passed  request- 
ing the  captain  of  a  tea  ship,  recently  arrived,  to  take  his 
cargo  out  of  the  harbor,  and  he  promptly  obeyed,  returning 
with  his  ship  to  England.  The  tea  was  similarly  disposed 
of  in  New  York.  In  Boston  no  amount  of  pressure  could 
force  the  consignees  to  resign;  town  meetings  were  held  to 
consider  what  action  should  be  taken  upon  the  arrival  of  the 
tea,  and  the  committees  of  correspondence  throughout  the 
colony  took  up  the  question  and  discussed  it  as  though  the 
fate  of  the  nation  was  at  stake. 

39  Hutchinson,  "  History  of  Massachusetts,"  vol.  iii.  pp.  331-332, 


374 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


On  Sunday,  the  twenty-eighth  of  November,  one 
of  the  tea  ships  arrived  in  the  harbor.  An  immense 
town  meeting  was  held  at  the  Old  South  Meeting  House, 
and  it  was  unanimously  voted  that  the  tea  should  not 
be  allowed  to  land.  Other  meetings  followed  in  the  course 
of  the  week,  and  the  excitement  of  the  populace  reached 
a  high  pitch.  Finally,  on  the  night  of  December  16, 
a  mob  of  fifty  persons,  disguised  as  Indians  and  armed 

with  hatchets,  proceed- 
ed to  the  wharf  and 
threw  the  cargoes  of 
the  three  ships — three 
hundred  and  forty 
chests  in  all — into  the 
sea.40  The  excited 
crowd  looked  on  with 
approval  for  three 
hours,  and  not  a  man 
was  arrested  for  the 
deed.  As  to  the  moral 
aspect  of  this  con- 
duct historians  have 
differed,  and  will  pro- 
bably continue  to 
differ,  according  as 
their  sympathies  are 
with  the  Americans  or 
British.  The  eminently 
candid  and  fair  Eng- 


^^ 


Old  South  Church,  Boston 

lish  historian,  Lecky,  describes  it  as  nothing  more  than  an 
"  outrage,"  41  while  John  Fiske  speaks  of  it  as  a  "  heroic  act," 
full  of  grandeur  and  deserving  of  greater  praise  than  it  has 

40  Hosmer,  "  Life  of  Samuel  Adams,"  p.  242. 
4i  Lecky,  "American  Revolution,"  p.  153. 


RUPTURE  WITH  MOTHER  COUNTRY  375 

received  from  the  hands  of  historians.42  Be  this  as  it  may, 
the  news  of  the  affair  caused  intense  indignation  among  the 
government  authorities  in  England,  and  led  them  to  resolve 
upon  stringent  measures  for  the  punishment  of  the  turbulent 
and  rebellious  inhabitants  of  Boston  in  particular,  and  of 
Massachusetts  in  general. 

"  If  we  take  a  determined  stand  now,"  said  the  great 
jurist,  Lord  Mansfield,  "  Boston  will  submit  and  all  will  end 
in  victory  without  carnage."  To  the  same  effect  was  the 
boast  of  General  Gage  that^ithey  will  be  lions  while  we  are 
lambs ;  but  if  we  take  the  resolute  part  they  will  prove  very 
meek,  I  promise  you."  With  the  object,  therefore,  of  bring- 
ing the  colonists  to  terms,  Parliament  passed  five  Acts,  which, 
from  their  stringent  and  repressive  character,  were  popularly 
known  as  the  five  "  intolerable  "  Arts.  The  first  of  these  was 
the  so-called43oston  Port  Bill,  which  closed  the  port  of  Bos- 
ton to  commerce  until  the  city  should  indemnify  the  owners 
of  the  £15,000  worth  of  tea  thrown  overboard  and  the  cus- 
toms officials  for  the  damage  done  by  mobs  in  1773  and 
1774.  The  Act,  furthermore,  made  Marblehead  the  port 
of  entry  and  Salem  the  seat  of  government  in  the  place  of 
Boston. 

The  second  measure,  known  as  the  Regulating  Act,  an- 
nulled the  liberal  charter  of  Massachusetts  and  virtually  took 
away  the  large  measure  of  self-government  which  the  colony 
had  always  enjoyed.  It  provided  that  the  executive  council 
should  be  appointed  by  the  Crown  instead  of  by  the  Assem- 
bly, empowered  the  governor  to  appoint  and  remove  at  pleas- 
ure all  judges  and  administrative  officers,  made  the  judges' 
salaries  a  charge  upon  the  Crown  instead  of  upon  the  legis- 
lature, prohibited  town  meetings  except  with  the  approval  of 
the  governor,  and  vested  the  selection  of  juries  in  the  hands 
of  sheriffs  instead  of  in  the  people.    The  third  measure,  often 

*2Fiske,  "American  Revolution,"  vol.  i.  pp.  90-91. 


376  THE    UNITED    STATES 

called  the  Transportation  Act,  provided  for  the  removal  to 
England  for  trial  of  any  royal  official,  including  soldiers  who 
might  be  accused  of  murder  in  suppressing  riots,  the  pur- 
pose being,  of  course,  to  secure  a  fair  trial  of  such  persons 
as  the  soldiers  who  were  responsible  for  the  "  Boston  Mas- 
sacre/' but  the  result  of  which,  the  Americans  insisted,  was  to 
encourage  the  British  soldiery  to  shoot  inoffensive  citizens. 

The  fourth  law,  known  as  the  Quartering  Act,  made  it 
obligatory  upon  Massachusetts  towns  to  furnish  quarters  to 
British  troops,  while  the  fifth,  passed  about  the  same  time, 
and  usually  known  as  the  Quebec  Act,  extended  the  boun- 
daries of  Canada  to  the  Ohio  River,  in  spite  of  the  territorial 
claims  of  the  Eastern  colonies.  Furthermore,  the  act  in- 
volved the  introduction  of  the  Catholic  religion  into  the 
Northwest,  and  a  centralized  system  of  administration,  the 
effect  of  which  the  English  colonists  claimed  would  be  to 
shut  them  out  from  immigration  to  this  region.  The  pur- 
pose of  the  Act  was  probably  misunderstood  by  the  colonists, 
for  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  it  was  passed  out  of 
hostility  to  them,43  but  in  the  then  excited  state  of  mind  they 
interpreted  it  as  one  of  the  additional  blows  by  which  the 
British  Government  was  riveting  the  chains  of  slavery  upon 
them.44  General  Gage  was  now  sent  over  with  several  regi- 
ments to  close  the  port  of  Boston,  and,  if  possible,  starve  or 
awe  the  turbulent  inhabitants  into  submission.  He  was  given 
a  sort  of  carte  blanche  in  dealing  with  those  who  resisted  the 
execution  of  the  law,  and  was  ordered  to  arrest  and  send  to 
England  for  trial  on  the  charge  of  treason  the  leading  "  agi- 
tators "  who,  in  the  opinion  of  the  king,  were  chiefly  respon- 
sible for  the  recent  disorders.  It  soon  became  evident,  how- 
ever, that  all  the  colonies  would  make  common  cause  with 

43  Coffin,  "  The  Quebec  Act "  in  the  "  Annual  Report  of  the  American  His- 
torical Association"  for  1894;    also,  Hinsdale,  "The  Old  Northwest,"  p.  141. 

**  Fiske,  "American  Revolution,"  pp.  93-97;  Channing,  "History  of  the 
United  States,"  p.  184. 


RUPTURE  WITH  MOTHER  COUNTRY  377 

Massachusetts,  and  that  the  attempt  of  the  king  to  punish  one 
of  them  would  be  resisted  by  all. 

When  the  news  of  the  Boston  Port  Bill  reached  Massa- 
chusetts a  town  meeting  was  called  and  a  circular  was  pre- 
pared and  sent  to  the  other  colonies,  asking  their  aid  and 
sympathy.  The  responses  were  prompt  and  generous. 
When  the  first  of  June  had  arrived,  the  day  on  which  the 
Port  Bill  was  to  go  into  effect,  droves  of  cattle,  loads  of 
grain,  vegetables,  fruit,  fish,  etc.,  were  pouring  into  Boston 
from  the  neighboring  colonies,  even  from  communities  as 
far  away  as  South  Carolina.  Everywhere  the  first  of  June 
was  observed  as  a  fast  day ;  bells  were  tolled  and  flags  on  the 
ships  in  the  harbors  placed  at  half-mast.45  The  town  refused 
to  indemnify  the  tea  merchants  or  the  customs  officials,  in 
fact  claimed  that  it  had  no  legal  right  to  do  so,  and  neglected 
to  punish  any  of  the  offenders,  although  their  identity  was 
known  to  everyone.  There  could  be  no  doubt  of  the  state 
of  public  opinion  in  America,  and  had  George  III.  possessed 
the  average  amount  of  common  sense  he  would  have  readily 
seen  how  untenable  his  position  was. 


II 


THE  FIRST  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS 

Matters  had  now  reached  a  point  where  the  cause  of  the 
colonists  required  a  more  efficient  agency  for  securing  con- 
cert of  action  and  unity  of  purpose  than  that  afforded  by 
the  inter-colonial  committees  of  correspondence.  The  New 
York  Sons  of  Liberty  had  earlier  in  the  year  1774  proposed 
a  Continental  Congress  as  contradistinguished  from  the 
provincial  or  State  congresses,  which  should  contain  rep- 

45  Fiske,  "  American  Revolution,"  vol.  i.  p.  103, 


378  THE    UNITED    STATES 

resentatives  from  all  the  colonies,  and  which  should  take  into 
consideration  the  present  state  of  affairs  and  adopt  measures 
for  the  future  conduct  of  the  people.  The  legislature  of  Vir- 
ginia, after  the  dissolution  referred  to  above,  assembled  un- 
officially at  the  Raleigh  tavern,  approved  the  suggestion  and 
invited  Massachusetts  to  fix  the  date  and  place  of  meeting. 
The  legislature  of  the  latter  colony,  assembled  at  Salem, 
acted  promptly  and  favorably  on  the  Virginia  invitation. 
The  leading  patriot  in  Massachusetts  at  the  time,  or,  as  the 
English  preferred  to  say,  the  leading  "  agitator,"  was 
Samuel  Adams,  and  it  was  through  his  shrewd  and  bold  ac- 
tion that  the  legislature  outwitted  the  governor  and  adopted 
resolutions  appointing  delegates  and  fixing  Philadelphia  as 
the  place,  and  September  1  as  the  time,  of  the  proposed 
meeting.46 

Knowing  full  well  that  the  governor  would  dis- 
solve the  legislature  should  it  attempt  to  consider  such  a 
proposition,  Adams  coolly  locked  the  door  of  the  assembly 
hall  and  kept  the  members  in  their  seats,  Tories  and  all,  and 
denied  admission  to  the  governor's  secretary,  when  presently 
he  arrived  with  a  writ  dissolving  the  Assembly.  Thus  un- 
disturbed, the  House  quietly  passed  its  measures  and  ad- 
journed. The  invitation  to  take  part  in  the  proposed  Con- 
gress was  generally  accepted,  and  all  the  colonies  except 
Georgia  chose  delegates,  some  of  them  in  an  irregular  way, 
before  the  end  of  the  summer. 

The  Congress  met  at  Carpenters'  Hall,  Philadelphia, 
September  5,  1774.  Forty-four  members  were  present, 
and  the  number  was  subsequently  increased  to  fifty-two. 
Some  of  the  prominent  delegates  in  attendance  were  Peyton 
Randolph  of  Virginia,  who  was  chosen  president;  Samuel 
and  John  Adams  of  Massachusetts;  Roger  Sherman  and 

46  For  an  unfavorable  opinion   of  Adams,  see  Lecky,  "  American   Revolu- 
iton,"  p.  121. 


RUPTURE  WITH  MOTHER  COUNTRY  379 


Silas  Deane  of  Connecticut;  John  Jay  of  New  York; 
Stephen  Hopkins  of  Rhode  Island;  George  Washington, 
Patrick  Henry,  Benjamin  Harrison,  Richard  Henry  Lee, 
and  Edmund  Pendleton  of  Virginia;  John  Dickinson  and 
Joseph  Galloway,  the  latter  a  famous  loyalist,  of  Pennsyl- 
vania; McKean,  Rod- 
ney and  Read  of  New 
Jersey;  the  two  Rut- 
ledges,  John  and 
Edward,  of  South 
Carolina,  and  others  of 
less  prominence  in  the 
future  history  of  our 
country.  It  was  the 
ablest,  as  it  was  the 
first,  general  assembly 
of  the  English  colo- 
nists of  America.47  It 
was,   of  course,   not   a 

Ipgfclfltivp    hnf\y,    bnt    a 

revolutionary  assem- 
bly, and  did  not,  there- 
fore, attempt  to  do 
much  more  than  adopt 
recommendations  f  o~r 
the  guidance  of  the 
colonists  in  the  approaching  conflict  with  the  mother  coun- 
try.  After  a  month  of  deliberation  marked  by  an  exhibition 
of  remarkable  moderation  and  conservatism,  the  Congress 
put  forth  a  declaration  of  the  rights  of  the  colonists,  in- 

« Of  this  Congress,  William  Pitt,  lately  become  Earl  of  Chatham,  said: 
"For  myself  I  must  declare  and  avow  that  in  all  my  reading  and  obser- 
vation, for  solidity  of  reasoning,  force  of  sagacity  and  wisdom  of  conclusion, 
no  nation  or  body  of  men  can  stand  in  preference  to  the  Congress  of  Phila- 
delphia." 


Carpenters'  Hall,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Where  the  First  Continental  Congress  met 

From  a  photograph 


THE    UNITED    STATES 

eluding  their  grievances '/adopted  addresses  to  the  king,  the 
people  of  Great  Britain  and  the  inhabitants  of  Canada;  and 
entered  into  an  association  of  non-intercourse  with  Great 
Britain.  Some  idea  of  the  spirit  which  permeated  these 
addresses  may  be  gathered  from  the  following  extract  from 
the  address  to  the  people  of  Great  Britain: 

"  We  believe  there  is  yet  much  virtue  in  the  English 
nation.  To  that  justice  we  now  appeal.  You  have  been  told 
that  we  are  seditious,  impatient  of  government  and  desirous 
of  independency.  Be  assured  that  these  are  not  facts,  but 
calumnies.  Permit  us  to  be  as  free  as  yourself,  and  we  shall 
ever  esteem  a  union  with  you  to  be  our  greatest  glory  and 
our  greatest  happiness;  we  shall  ever  be  ready  to  contribute 
all  in  our  power  to  the  welfare  of  the  Empire ;  we  shall  con- 
sider your  enemies  as  our  enemies  and  your  interests  as  our 
interests.  But  if  you  are  determined  that  your  ministers 
shall  wantonly  sport  with  the  rights  of  mankind — if  neither 
the  voice  of  justice,  the  dictates  of  law,  the  principles  of  the 
Constitution  nor  the  suggestions  of  humanity  can  restrain 
your  hands  from  shedding  human  blood  in  such  an  impious 
cause,  we  must  tell  you  that  we  will  never  submit  to  be  hewers 
of  wood  or  drawers  of  water  for  any  ministry  or  nation  in 
the  world."48 

The  non-intercourse  resolution  pledged  the  colonists  not 
to  import  after  December  1  following  any  goods,  wares 
or  merchandise  from  Great  Britain,  or  any  tea,  molasses  or 
coffee  from  the  British  colonies,  and  after  September  10, 
1775,  if  the  obnoxious  Acts  of  Parliament  were  not  repealed, 
they  would  export  no  merchandise  or  produce  to  Great 
Britain.  The  delegates  further  pledged  themselves  to  do  all 
in  their  power  to  make  the  colonies  economically  independent 

48  Journal  First  Continental  Congress.  For  the  legal  status  of  the  Con- 
gress, see  Friedenwald  in  the  "Annual  Report  of  the  American  Historical 
Association"  for  1894. 


RUPTURE    WITH    MOTHER    COUNTRY     381 


of  the  mother  country.  They  agreed  to  improve  the  breed 
of  their  sheep;  not  to  eat  or  export  any  mutton;  to  en- 
courage economy,  frugality,  and  industry;  to  promote  agri- 
culture, arts,  and  manufactures,  especially  that  of  wool; 
to  discountenance  every 
species  of  extravagance 
and  dissipation,  par- 
ticularly horse-racing 
and  all  kinds  of  gam- 
ing, cock-  fighting, 
shows,  plays,  and  other 
diversions  and  enter- 
tainments ;  and  that 
upon  the  death  of  any  friend  or  relative  they  would  wear 
the  plainest  of  mourning  dress  and  discontinue  the  practice 
of  giving  gloves  and  scarfs  at  funerals.  It  was  further 
agreed  that  any  person  who  should  take  advantage  of  the 
scarcity  caused  thereby  to  raise  prices  should  be  boycotted 
by  the  people,  that  a  vigilance  committee  should  be  ap- 
pointed in  every  community  to  "  observe  the  conduct  of 
persons  touching  the  agreement,"  and  that  all  persons  so 
violating  it  should  be  "  published  in  the  Gazette  and  uni- 
versally contemned  as  the  enemies  of  American  liberty." 
Finally  the  Congress  adjourned  in  October,  after  adopting 
a  resolution  providing  for  the  assembling  of  a  new  Congress 
in  May,  1775,  if  in  the  meantime  the  grievances  of  the 
colonists  were  not  redressed. 


382  THE    UNITED    STATES 

III 

LEXINGTON   AND    CONCORD 

The  day  on  which  the  Congress  assembled  at  Phila- 
delphia General  Gage  set  to  work  fortifying  Boston  Neck 
for  the  purpose  of  defending  the  only  approach  to  the  city. 
On  September  17  a  meeting  representing  all  the  towns  of 
Suffolk  County  was  called,  and  it  adopted  a  series  of  "  re- 
solves "  arraigning  the  British  Government  for  its  acts,  ex- 
pressed astonishment  at  the  military  activities  of  General 
Gage,  and  appointed  Dr.  Joseph  Warren  to  wait  on  the  gov- 
ernor and  inform  him  that  "  the  country  are  alarmed  at  the 
fortifications  beginning  on  Boston  Neck."  The  convention 
also  adopted  an  address  to  the  governor,  assuring  him  that  the 
people  of  America,  "  by  divine  assistance,"  were  resolved 
never  to  submit  to  the  late  Acts  of  Parliament.  The  Suffolk 
resolves  were  laid  before  the  Continental  Congress  and  its 
advice  requested.  The  Congress  promptly  indorsed  the 
resolutions,  pledged  the  aid  of  the  other  colonies  in  case 
armed  resistance  became  necessary,  and  recommended  to 
their  brethren  in  Massachusetts  "  a  perseverance  in  the  firm 
and  temperate  conduct  "  as  expressed  in  their  resolutions. 

Thereupon  the  people  of  Massachusetts  proceeded  to  or- 
ganize a  provisional  government  of  their  own  with  the  inten- 
tion of  repudiating  the  sovereignty  of  Great  Britain.  The 
legislature,  which  had  been  dissolved  by  the  governor,  assem- 
bled at  Salem  upon  its  own  authority  and  organized'itself  into 
a  Provincial  Congress  under  the  presidency  of  John  Han- 
cock, a  wealthy  merchant  of  Boston,  a  graduate  of  Harvard, 
and  one  of  the  three  leading  patriots  of  the  colony.  The 
Congress  chose  a  committee  of  safety  and  placed  at  its  head 
Dr.  Joseph  Warren,  one  of  the  most  active  and  resourceful 
of  the  early  Revolutionary  leaders.    Early  in  1775  another 


RUPTURE    WITH    MOTHER    COUNTRY     383 

Provincial  Congress  was  assembled,  and  it  entered  actively 
upon  the  task  of  putting  the  colony  on  a  war  footing.  The 
militia  was  strengthened,  officers  appointed,  bodies  of  "  min- 
utemen  "  ready  to  act  at  a  moment's  warning  were  or- 
ganized, and  soon  every  village  square  was  the  scene  of 
active  military  drill. 

Everywhere  there  was  evidence  of  rebellion  against 
British  authority;  in  every  heart  there  was  the  feeling  that 
death  itself  was  preferable  to  submission.  The  British  had 
found  it  impossible  to  enforce  the  Regulating  Act  in  Mass- 
achusetts; royal  officers  were  forced  to  resign,  juries  were 
awed  and  intimidated  into  rendering  verdicts  against  the 
Crown  wherever  the  rights  of  the  people  were  at  issue;  the 
courts  were  broken  up  and  Gage  found  himself  powerless, 
for  no  one  would  work  for  him  or  sell  him  supplies.  He 
attributed  most  of  his  troubles  to  the  "  seditious  "  utterances 
and  activities  of  Samuel  Adams  and  John  Hancock,  the  two 
chief  arch-conspirators,  and  after  vainly  endeavoring  to  win 
over  Adams  by  bribery,  he  undertook  to  arrest  both  in  pur- 
suance of  instructions  from  the  king,  that  they  should  be 
sent  to  England  for  trial.  But  both  were  among  friends 
who  shielded  them  from  the  king's  officers,  and  while  they 
deemed  it  the  better  part  of  valor  to  elude  the  royal  officers, 
they  did  not  cease  their  opposition  to  the  late  Acts  of 
Parliament. 

On  April  15,  having  learned  that  both  Adams  and  Han- 
cock were  staying  at  a  house  in  Lexington,  a  village  nine 
miles  northwest  of  Boston,  Gage  secretly  dispatched  an  ex- 
pedition of  some  eight  hundred  troops  with  instructions  to 
arrest  the  two  patriot  leaders,  after  which  they  were  to  pro- 
ceed to  Concord,  ten  miles  farther  on,  and  capture  a 
quantity  of  military  supplies  that  had  been  collected  there  by 
the  "  rebels."  Gage,  however,  was  unable  to  conceal  the 
movement  of  the  troops  from  the  vigilance  of  the  patriots, 


384 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


Paul  Revere 

After  the  painting  by 

Gilbert  Stuart 


and  one  of  their  number,  Paul  Revere,  volunteered  to  ride 
to  Lexington  and  inform  the  citizens  of  the  approach  of  the 

regulars.  Booted  and  spurred,  he 
waited  for  a  given  signal  from  a 
lantern  hung  in  the  tower  of  the  Old 
North  Church,  which  indicated  the 
direction  the  troops  had  taken,  after 
which  he  galloped  away  through  the 
darkness  shouting  the  news  at  every 
farmhouse  as  he  passed  along. 
Reaching  Lexington  about  midnight, 
he  roused  the  sleeping  citizens  and 
informed  Adams  and  Hancock  of 
the  coming  of  the  troops  in  time  for 
them  to  escape. 
In  the  gray  dawn  of  April  19,  Major  Pitcairn,  who 
had  been  sent  forward  with  several  companies  of  in- 
fantry, entered  the  quiet  vil- 
lage only  to  find  himself  con- 
fronted by  a  well-drilled 
company  of  minutemen  under 
the  command  of  Captain 
Parker,  a  veteran  of  the 
French  and  Indian  War.  Rid- 
ing up,  Pitcairn  commanded 
them  with  an  oath  to  disperse, 
but  not  a  man  budged.  There- 
upon he  gave  the  command  to 
fire,  and  after  some  hesitation 
his  troops  obeyed,  killing  seven 
of  the  Americans  and  wound- 
ing ten  others.  The  minutemen  Paul  Revere's  House>  Boston,  Mass. 
bravely  returned  the  fire,  but  being  greatly  outnumbered, 
prudently  retired  and  waited  for  reinforcements. 


RUPTURE    WITH    MOTHER    COUNTRY     385 


The  British  troops 
marched  on  to  Con- 
cord unopposed,  only 
to  find  that  the  bulk 
of  the  arms  and  am- 
munition had  been 
removed  from  the 
town  and  concealed 
by  the  inhabitants. 
The  only  damage  the 
invaders  did  was  to 
cut  down  the  "  lib- 
erty pole,"  disable  a 
few  cannon  and  de- 
stroy a  small  quan- 
tity of  supplies. 
While  this  was  go- 
ing on  a  force  of 
some  400  minutemen 
fell  upon  a  detach- 
ment of  200  regulars 
which  had  been  left 
to  guard  the  bridge 
north  of  the  town, 
and  chased  them  back 
to  the  village.  The 
British,  realizing 
their  perilous  situa- 
tion, now  determined 
to  return  to  Boston. 
By  this  time  the  ad- 
jacent country  was 
well  aroused  and 
troops   were  swarm- 


The  Old  Xorth  of  Boston 

The  Signal  Lanterns  of 

PAUL  REVERE 

Displayed  in  the  Steeple  of  This  Church 

April  18th,  1775 

Warned  the  Country  of  the  March 

of  the  British  Troops  to 

Lexington  and  Concord 


THE    UNITED    STATES 

ing  to  the  scene  from  every  quarter,  and  as  the  regulars 
marched  back  toward  Lexington  they  were  harassed  and  shot 
by  the  farmers,  who  concealed  themselves  behind  hedges, 
trees,  rocks  and  other  natural  objects.  The  British  retreat 
soon  degenerated  into  an  utter  rout.  All  was  disorder  and 
confusion;  the  day  was  dry  and  hot,  and  the  soldiers  were 
well-nigh  exhausted  from  their  long  march.  At  Lexington 
they  were  saved  by  the  arrival  of  Lord  Percy,  who  with  1,200 
men  had  been  sent  to  their  rescue.  Thus  reenforced,  the 
British  held  the  Americans  at  bay  and  gained  time  for  rest 
and  refreshment,  after  which  they  resumed  their  march  to 
Boston.  But  the  roadside  along  which  they  now  traveled 
was  fairly  alive  with  American  troops.  They  flew  at  the 
retreating  British  from  every  direction  and  gave  them  one 
continual  battle  from  Lexington  to  Boston.  Finally,  at 
sundown,  the  retreating  soldiers,  weary  and  with  depleted 
ranks,  reached  Charlestown,  where  they  found  a  welcome 
cover  afforded  by  the  gunboats.  Altogether  they  had  lost 
273  men,  while  the  Americans  had  lost  less  than  100. 

The  battles  of  Lexington  and  Concord  were  the  first 
of  the  Revolution,  and  so  far  as  moral  results  were  concerned 
were  a  distinct  victory  for  the  Americans.  The  British 
forces  had  barely  escaped  capture  and  the  fighting  qualities 
of  the  Americans  had  been  abundantly  shown.  If  further 
evidence  was  needed  that  they  could  not  be  frightened  into 
abject  submission  by  the  presence  of  a  British  regiment,  it 
was  furnished  by  the  retreat  from  Concord.  The  news  of 
the  affair  spread  rapidly,  and  from  all  parts  of  the  colony 
troops  began  to  pour  into  the  vicinity  of  Boston.  Leaders 
like  Israel  Putnam,  who,  according  to  the  story,  left  his  plow 
in  the  field,  John  Stark,  Benedict  Arnold,  and  others,  came 
at  the  head  of  well-drilled  companies,  and  within  three  days 
it  was  estimated  that  not  less  than  16,000  American  volun- 
teers had  gathered  in  the  neighborhood  of  Boston  and  were 


RUPTURE    WITH    MOTHER    COUNTRY     389 


ready  to  begin  a  siege  of  the  town.  Everywhere  the  people 
rose  in  revolt  against  the  royal  authorities,  and  in  a  short 
time  British  rule  in  America  had  utterly  collapsed.  The 
royal  governors  were  compelled  to  abandon  their  govern- 
ments; some  of  them  resigned,  others  returned  to  England, 
while  still  others  took  refuge  on  near-by  war  vessels  and  went 
through  the  hollow  form  of  attempting  to  govern  their 


Copyright,  1905,  by  John  D.  Morris  &  Company 
General    Israel   Putnam  is   Called  to   Arms   While   Plowing 
in   His   Fields 
Drawing  by   F.   O.   C.   Darley 

provinces  from  a  distance.  Nowhere  was  there  a  thought  of 
submission  or  reconciliation.  On  May  10,  three  weeks  after 
the  battle  of  Lexington,  Ethan  Allen,  a  "  Green  Mountain  " 
patriot,  with  a  handful  of  backwoodsmen,  captured  the  for- 


390  THE    UNITED    STATES 

tress  of  Ticonderoga  in  eastern  New  York,  and  a  little  later 
Crown  Point,  on  Lake  George,  likewise  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  Americans,  with  a  large  number  of  cannon  and  a 
quantity  of  ammunition.  Such  were  the  beginnings  of  a 
revolution  which  was  destined  to  result  in  the  independence 
of  the  American  colonies,  and  which  was  to  have  political 
consequences  of  tremendous  import  to  the  future  of 
mankind. 


Chapter    X 
REVOLUTION    AND    INDEPENDENCE 

I 

THE   SECOND   CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS 

ON  May  10,  1775,  the  very  day  on  which  Ticonderoga 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Americans,  the  second 
Continental  Congress  came  together  at  Philadel- 
phia, in  pursuance  of  a  resolution  of  the  preceding  Congress. 
The  address  to  the  king  drawn  up  by  the  last  Congress 
had  been  unanswered,  and  instead  of  redressing  the  griev- 
ances set  forth  therein,  the  king  had  resolved  upon  the  sub- 
jugation of  his  rebellious  American  subjects.  Important 
events  had  taken  place  since  the  adjournment  of  the  Con- 
gress in  October ;  an  armed  conflict  had  occurred  between  the 
royal  forces  and  the  American  militia,  and  blood  had  been 
shed  on  American  soil.  As  a  result  the  country  was  rising 
in  arms,  and  already  the  British  forces  were  besieged  in  the 
town  of  Boston,  and  the  king  was  preparing  to  send  to  their 
aid  large  reinforcements  from  England. 

Among  the  delegates  chosen  to  the  second  Continental 
Congress  were  the  two  Adamses,  the  Livingstons,  Edward 
and  Robert,  John  Jay,  Patrick  Henry,  Richard  Henry 
Lee,  and  George  Washington,  all  of  whom  had  been  mem- 
bers of  the  first  Congress.  In  addition  to  these  were 
two  new  members  who  were  destined  to  win  great  fame 
in  American  history,  namely,  Thomas  Jefferson,  who 
had   just    turned   his    thirty-second   year,    and    Benjamin 

391 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


Franklin,  already  the  most  widely  known  man  in  America. 
Another  new  member  was  John  Hancock,  who,  after 
eluding  the  British  at  Lexington,  had  hastened  to  Phila- 
delphia to  be  present  at  the  opening  of  Congress.  Hated 
and  proscribed  by  the  British,  he  was  very  popular  among 
the  patriots  of  America,  and  the  Congress  made  him  its  presi- 
dent, partly  "  to  show  Great  Britain  how  much  they  valued 
her  proscriptions."  Like  the  preceding  Congress,  this  one 
was  a  revolutionary  body,  a  sort  of  advisory  organ,  as- 
sembled without  legal  authority,  and  consequently  without 
constitutional   power   to   enact   legislation   binding   on   the 


Stone    Marking   the   Line   of   the    Minutemen   at   Lexington, 

Massachusetts 

From  a  photograph 

colonies.  Nevertheless,  during  the  course  of  the  long  war 
that  now  ensued  it  assumed  both  legislative  and  admin- 
istrative functions,  as  a  matter  of  necessity,  always  relying, 
of  course,  upon  the  acquiescence  of  the  people  as  the  meas- 
ure of  its  powers.    It  was  the  only  general  legislative  body 


REVOLUTION    AND    INDEPENDENCE  393 


for  the  colonies  during  a  period  when  some  such  authority 
was  absolutely  necessary,  and  the  fact  that  the  colonies 
acquiesced  in  its  acts,  unsupported  by  legal  authority  as  they 
were,  must  always  stand  as  high  evidence  of  their  unity  of 
purpose  and  patriotism.  The  great  and  almost  only  task  of 
the  Congress  was  to  raise,  organize  and  support  the  army. 
One  of  its  first  duties, 
and  at  the  same  time 
probably  the  wisest  and 
most  far-reaching  of 
its  acts,  was  the  selec- 
tion of  George  Wash- 
ington as  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  army. 

The  Continental 
Army  at  this  time  con- 
sisted mainly  of  raw, 
untrained  New  Eng- 
land militia,  and  the 
selection  of  a  Virginia 
planter,  upon  the  nom- 
ination of  a  New  Eng- 
lander,  John  Adams,  to 
organize  and  command 
them,  was  striking  evi- 
dence of  the  determina- 
tion to  sink  local 
prejudices  and  present  a  united  front  to  the  enemy.  All  the 
more  was  this  true  in  view  of  the  fact  that  several  prominent 
New  England  men,  chief  of  whom  was  Hancock,  desired  the 
position  of  commander-in-chief.  At  the  time,  Washington 
was  colonel  of  the  Virginia  militia,  and  his  experience  in  the 
French  and  Indian  War,  his  fondness  for  military  service, 
and  his  natural  genius  as  a  commander  made  him  eminently 


Battle  Monument,  Lexington 


394 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


qualified,  as  subsequent  events  showed,  for  the  high  office  to 
which  he  was  now  called ;  in  fact,  there  was  no  one  who  could 
for  a  moment  be  compared  with  him  in  fitness.    In  the  de- 


S&1*  - 

n 

* 

pV-'  ^  ^  1*-  -~ 

&*&■*..-.?.  its.'-   .-$ 

i> 

1  y     MIMWBI^'^"*-                         ;pr 

if 

1 

Concord  Bridge  and  Battle  Monument 
From  a  recent  photograph 


bates  of  the  Congress  Washington  had  taken  no  part,  so 
far  as  the  record  shows,  but  "  for  solid  information  and 
sound  judgment,"  said  Patrick  Henry,  "  he  was  unquestion- 
ably the  greatest  man  on  the  floor  of  Congress."  *  With 
becoming  modesty  he  now  rose  in  his  seat  and  in  trembling 
voice  said,  "  But  I  beg  it  may  be  remembered  by  every  gentle- 

i  Lodge,  "  Life  of  Washington,"  vol.  i.  p.  127. 


REVOLUTION    AND    INDEPENDENCE  395 

man  in  this  room  that  I  this  day  declare  with  utmost  sincerity 
I  do  not  think  myself  equal  to  the  command  I  am  honored 
with."  Nevertheless,  he  agreed  to  "enter  upon  the  mo- 
mentous duty,"  and  announced  that  he  would  accept  no  pay 
for  his  services,  but  would  keep  an  account  of  his  personal 
expenses,  which  Congress  might  reimburse  if  it  wished  at 
the  close  of  the  war. 

In  addition  to  selecting  Washington  as  commander-in- 
chief,  Congress  appointed  four  major-generals,  Ward,  Lee, 
Schuyler  and  Putnam,  and  eight  brigadiers;  it  also  author- 
ized the  issue  of  two  million  dollars  of  paper  currency,  set 
apart  a  day  of  prayer  and  fasting,  and  recommended  the 
States  to  adopt  constitutions  and  organize  local  governments 
in  place  of  the  defunct  British  authority — a  recommendation 
which  they  all  followed  in  the  course  of  the  next  two  years. 

II 

BUNKER  HILL   AND   BOSTON 

While  the  Congress  at  Philadelphia  was  providing  for 
the  organization  and  equipment  of  the  "  Continental  Army," 
affairs  were  reaching  a  crisis  at  Boston.  Fifteen  or  twenty 
thousand  American  volunteers  were  encamped  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  town,  while  the  arrival  of  Clinton,  Howe  and 
Burgoyne  with  reen  for  cements  from  England  had  in- 
creased Gage's  strength  to  over  ten  thousand  men.  The 
American  army,  under  the  command  of  General  Artemas 
Ward,  was  arranged  in  the  form  of  a  great  semicircle  about 
sixteen  miles  in  length,  stretching  from  Cambridge  to 
Charlestown  Neck,  while  the  British  forces  occupied  Bos- 
ton. At  this  juncture  Gage,  feeling  confident  of  victory,  is- 
sued a  proclamation  offering  amnesty  to  all  "rebels"  who 
would  lay  down  their  arms  and  return  peaceably  to  their 


396  THE    UNITED    STATES 

homes.  Excepted  from  the  benefits  of  the  proposed  amnesty, 
however,  were  Adams  and  Hancock,  the  chief  conspirators, 
in  Gage's  opinion,  and  who,  if  captured,  were  to  be  sum- 
marily hanged.  The  proclamation  had  no  more  effect  than  if 
it  had  been  issued  against  the  moon — hardly  a  man  returned 
to  his  allegiance.  Gage,  now  feeling  certain  that  he  would 
have  to  fight  in  order  to  hold  Boston,  and  fearing  that  the 
rebels  would  seize  some  of  the  surrounding  hills  and  make 
his  position  untenable,  decided  to  occupy  the  two  most  im- 
portant of  these  defenses,  namely,  Bunker  Hill  and  Dor- 
chester Heights,  to  the  north  and  south  of  the  town,  re- 
spectively. 

Learning  of  Gage's  intention  in  this  respect,  the  Amer- 
icans resolved  to  forestall  him,  and  on  the  night  of  June  16, 
1775,  General  Ward  dispatched  1,200  men  under  Colonel 
Prescott  to  take  possession  of  Bunker  Hill.  Disregarding 
orders,  they  passed  over  that  hill  and  occupied  Breed's 
Hill,  a  lower  elevation  between  Bunker  Hill  and  the  Charles 
River.  On  the  morrow  the  British  were  astonished  to  find 
that  they  had  been  forestalled  by  the  vigilant  Americans, 
who  were  now  strongly  posted  behind  intrenchments  on  the 
eminence  which  they  had  expected  to  occupy  themselves.  In- 
stead of  sending  a  detachment  to  cut  the  Americans  off  at 
Charlestown  Neck,  as  he  might  have  done  with  success, 
Gage  decided  to  attack  them  from  the  front  and  drive  them 
back  over  the  hill.  Accordingly,  3,000  troops  under  General 
Howe  were  sent  across  the  river,  and  in  the  afternoon 
of  June  17  they  started  up  the  ascent  prepared  to  storm 
the  breastworks  of  the  enemy.  The  Americans  calmly 
withheld  their  fire  until  the  British  troops  were  within  con- 
venient range,  when  suddenly  they  poured  a  terrible  volley 
into  the  ranks  of  the  enemy  and  sent  them  down  the  hillside 
in  utter  rout  and  confusion.  Recovering  their  equanimity 
after  a  brief  pause  the  British  advanced  to  a  second  charge, 


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REVOLUTION    AND    INDEPENDENT  MJ 


Copyright.  1905,  by  John  D.  Morris  &  Company 

The   Assault  upon   the    American    Fortifications   on   Bunker   Hill  by   the 

English  Grenadiers 


only  to  be  driven  back  again  with  frightful  losses.  Toward 
five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  to  the  amazement  of  everybody 
but  the  British  themselves,  a  third  assault  was  made  with  re- 
markable courage  and  desperation.2 

In  the  meantime  the  American  supply  of  powder  hav- 
ing run  short  and  their  muskets  being  without  bayonets, 
Prescott's  men  were  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  repelling 
the  attack  of  the  enemy  with  their  gunstocks,  which  were 
used  as  clubs.  Under  these  circumstances  the  Americans 
were  driven  back,  and  the  British  were  left  in  possession  of 
the  hill.  The  British  loss  in  killed  and  wounded  was  some- 
thing over  1,000  men,  that  of  the  Americans  being  less  than 
half  that  number.     The  loss  of  officers  among  the  British 

2  See  Lodge.  "  Story  of  the  Revolution,"  ch.  v. 


400  THE    UNITED    STATES 

was  especially  heavy,  among  the  killed  being  Major  Pit- 
cairn.  The  Americans  suffered  an  irreparable  loss  in  the 
death  of  Dr.  Joseph  Warren,  who  was  shot  while  impru- 
dently lingering  on  the  field  after  the  close  of  the  battle. 
With  the  Adamses,  Hancock  and  Otis,  he  was  one  of  the 
leading  patriots  of  New  England,  and  had  played  a  con- 
spicuous part  in  the  events  by  which  the  Revolution  was 
inaugurated.  From  the  standpoint  of  purely  military  re- 
sults the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  (or  more  properly,  Breed's 
Hill)  was  an  English  victory  and  enabled  Gage  to  hold 
Boston  nine  months  longer.  But  the  moral  advantages  were 
largely  with  the  Americans,  for  until  disabled  by  the  ex- 
haustion of  their  ammunition  they  had  shown  themselves 
more  than  a  match  for  the  enemy.  Instead  of  discourage- 
ment at  the  result  there  was  general  elation,  while  praises 
for  the  fighting  qualities  of  the  New  England  militiamen 
were  widely  expressed,  both  in  America  and  in  Europe.3 

Two  weeks  after  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  Washing- 
ton, after  a  tiresome  journey  of  eleven  days  by  stage  from 
Philadelphia,  arrived  at  Cambridge,  and  on  July  3  took 
command  of  the  "  Continental  Armv,"  of  some  sixteen  thou- 
sand  men.4  All  were  New  England  militiamen,  and  all,  ex- 
cept about  five  thousand,  were  inhabitants  of  Massachusetts. 
Shortly  afterwards  they  were  reenforced  by  some  three 
thousand  troops  from  Pennsylvania,  Maryland  and  Vir- 
ginia. Washington's  journey  to  Boston  had  been  in  the 
nature  of  an  ovation,  and  his  assumption  of  the  chief  com- 
mand was  attended  by  every  circumstance  of  popular  re- 
joicing. Among  his  subordinate  commanders  who  were 
destined  to  achieve  fame  in  the  near  future  were  Nathanael 
Greene,  who,  next  to  Washington,  was  the  greatest  soldier 
the  war  produced ;  John  Stark  of  New  Hampshire,  who  had 

s  Fiske,  "  The   American   Revolution,"   vol.   i.   pp.    137-146.     Winsor,   "  Nar- 
rative and  Critical  History,"  vol.  vi.  pp.  130-140. 
*  Lodge,  "  Life  of  Washington,"  vol.  i.  p.  134. 


REVOLUTION    AND    INDEPENDENCE  401 


already  in  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  given  evidence  of  his 
brave  and  rugged  character;  Daniel  Morgan,  the  gallant 
leader  of  a  company  of  Virginia  sharpshooters;  Benedict 
Arnold  of  Connecticut, 
a  brilliant  soldier, 
whose  promising  ca- 
reer was  to  have  a  sad 
ending;  and  Henry 
Knox,  a  Boston  book- 
dealer,  who  was  des- 
tined to  become  one  of 
the  first  Cabinet  officers 
under  the  Constitution, 
and  one  of  the  most 
trusted  advisers  of 
Washington. 

Never  was  the  task 
of  a  military  com- 
mander greater  than 
that  which  faced 
Washington  when  he 
took  charge  of  the  Con- 
tinental troops  under 
the  shades  of  the  great 
Cambridge  elm.  With- 
out uniforms,  armed 
with  every  variety  of 
weapon,  having  no 
commissariat  worth  the 
name,  untrained,  un- 
disciplined, and  hardly 
yet  having  learned  the  lesson  of  military  subordination,  this 
motley  crowd  of  farmers,  fishermen,  and  shopkeepers  pre- 
sented a  spectacle  which  was  enough  to  discourage  the  most 


Bunker    Hill    Monument   and    Statue    of 
Prescott,   Cambridge,   Massachusetts 


402 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


experienced  of  commanders.  Nevertheless,  it  afforded  a 
body  of  excellent  raw  material,  and  out  of  this  Washington 
proceeded  to  organize  an  army.  Many  of  the  men  had  vol- 
unteered for  short  periods,  and  as  their  terms  of  enlistment 
expired  they  insisted  on  going  home,  and  many  of  them 


Washington  Elm,  Cambridge,  Massachusetts 
Where  General  Washington  took  command  of  the 
Federal  Army 
From  a  photograph 

went.  The  work  of  reenlisting  proceeded  apace;  in  fact, 
the  army  was  practically  disbanded  and  reenlisted  within 
cannon-shot  of  the  enemy. 

For  months  Washington  toiled  away  drilling  the  men, 
reenlisting  those  whose  terms  had  expired,  securing  arms 
and  ammunition  and  creating  a  commissariat.5  During  this 
period  of  preparation  and  organization  no  active  military 
operations  were  undertaken  except  an  invasion  of  Canada 
in  the  autumn,  largely  in  the  hope  of  freeing  the  Canadians 
from  British  rule  and  attaching  them  to  the  American  cause. 
In  the  latter  part  of  August,  General  Richard  Montgomery, 
with  some  2,000  men,  set  out  from  Fort  Ticonderoga  and 

5  For  an  interesting  account  of  this  phase  of  the  Revolution,  see  Hatch, 
"The  Administration  of  the  Revolutionary  Army." 


REVOLUTION    AND    INDEPENDENCE  405 


in  November  captured  Montreal.  To  aid  Montgomery 
in  what  promised  to  be  a  highly  successful  campaign,  Wash- 
ington, in  September,  sent  Colonel  Benedict  Arnold  with 
1,200  men  to  join  Montgomery's  forces  in  the  attack  on 
Quebec.  After  a  march  of  more  than  a  month  through  the 
dense  wilderness  of  Maine,  during  which  the  men  suffered 


General  Richard  Montgomery 
Painting  by  Trumbull 

indescribable  hardships  from  cold  and  hunger,  their  flesh 
torn  and  lacerated  by  thorns  and  briers,  exhausted  by  fatigue 
and  tormented  by  disease,  the  expedition  reached  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Quebec  early  in  December.  On  the  last  day  of 
the  year  1775,  while  a  blinding  snowstorm  was  raging,  the 
two  armies  made  a  combined  attack  on  the  city.    Although 


406  THE    UNITED    STATES 


Copyright,  1905,  by  John  D.  Morris  &  Company 

Colonel  Henrf  Knox  Arrives  from  Ticonderoga  with  Forty-Two  Sleds 
Carrying  Artillery  and  Ammunition 

the  Americans  fought  with  a  courage  amounting  to  des- 
peration, they  were  driven  back  with  frightful  losses,  the 
gallant  Montgomery  being  among  the  killed.  Such  was 
the  disastrous  ending  of  one  of  the  most  daring  and  hero- 
ically conducted  campaigns  of  the  Revolution.6 

After  about  eight  months  of  organizing  and  drilling 
Washington  was  at  last  ready  to  begin  the  attack  upon  Bos- 
ton. A  great  quantity  of  cannon  had  been  collected,  some 
of  them  dragged  on  sledges  all  the  way  from  Ticonderoga, 
where  they  had  been  captured  by  Ethan  Allen  the  year  be- 
fore, and  thus  equipped  the  operations  were  begun  in  earnest 
against  the  British.  Washington's  first  move  was  to  seize 
and  occupy,  on  the  night  of  March  4,  1776,  Dorchester 
Heights,  which  commanded  the  town  from  the  south,  as 
Bunker  Hill  did  from  the  north.  All  night  long  the  Amer- 
icans labored  with  pick  and  shovel,  and  when  the  British 
awoke  on  the  morning  of  March  5   they  were  astonished  to 

6  Read  Codman's  "  Arnold's  March  to  Quebec." 


REVOLUTION    AND    INDEPENDENCE  407 

find  two  thousand  men  strongly  intrenched  behind  earth- 
works, and  ready  to  begin  the  bombardment  of  the  British 
vessels  in  the  harbor.  Howe  was  greatly  puzzled  to  know 
what  to  do.  His  first  thought  was  to  storm  the  American 
works,  but  it  soon  became  evident  that  only  disaster  could  re- 
sult from  such  an  attempt,  and  it  was  accordingly  abandoned. 
Nothing  seemed  left  but  to  evacuate  the  city,  and  on  March 
17,  his  whole  army  of  8,000  troops,  together  with  a  consider- 
able number  of  loyalists,  who  were  resolved  to  sacrifice  their 
all  for  the  mother  country,  sailed  away  to  Halifax,  leaving 
to  the  enemy  two  hundred  cannon,  a  quantity  of  small  arms 
and  a  large  amount  of  ammunition.  Thus  by  one  brilliant 
stroke,  and  almost  without  the  loss  of  a  man,  New  England 
was  freed  from  the  rule  of  the  British.7 

While  Washington  was  besieging  Boston  several  note- 
worthy events  were  happening  in  the  southern  colonies. 
The  first  of  these  was  the  burning  of  Norfolk,  the  principal 
town  of  Virginia,  by  Lord  Dunmore,  the  royalist  governor, 
who,  having  stirred  up  the  wrath  of  the  Virginians,  had  been 
compelled  to  take  refuge  on  a  war  vessel  in  the  harbor.  On 
January  1,  1776,  Dunmore  set  fire  to  the  town  to  prevent 
its  falling  into  the  hands  of  a  body  of  patriot  troops,  and  laid 
it  completely  in  ashes.  In  the  same  month  General  Clinton 
with  2,000  troops  was  sent  from  Boston  to  take  possession 
of  the  southern  colonies  and  hold  them  for  the  Crown,  being 
subsequently  joined  by  Sir  Peter  Parker  with  a  fleet  of  ten 
ships  and  seven  regiments  from  England.  Meantime,  a 
body  of  1,000  troops  under  Colonel  Richard  Caswell  had  de- 
feated and  utterly  routed  2,000  Scotch  Highlander  Tories 
under  the  leadership  of  Donald  MacDonald,  on  Moore's 
Creek,  North  Carolina,  in  February,  1776.  Immediately 
following  this  brilliant  victory,  the  North  Carolina  patriots 

TFiske,  "The  American  Revolution,"  vol.  ii.  p.  172;  Winsor,  "Narrative  and 
Critical  History,"  vol.  vi.  p.  158. 


408 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


flew  to  arms  in  such  numbers  that  Clinton  was  afraid  to 
land.  After  cruising  up  and  down  the  North  Carolina 
coast  for  some  time,  he  decided  to  capture  Charleston  with 
the  aid  of  Parker's  fleet,  which  had  now  arrived,  and  thus 
provide  a  refuge  for  the  large  number  of  loyalists  which  he 
was  made  to  believe  were  settled  in  South  Carolina.  On 
June  28  the  combined  fleets  attacked  Fort  Moultrie,  which 


Plan  of  the  Siege  of  Charleston,  South  Carolina 

the  Americans  had  hastily  constructed,  mostly  out  of  pal- 
metto logs,  but  the  British  fire  was  unavailing.  The  British 
fleet  was  badly  injured  and  more  than  200  of  their  men 
were  lost;  the  American  fort  was  little  damaged  and  their 
loss  was  inconsiderable.  After  ten  hours  of  fruitless  bom- 
bardment the  British  fleet  sailed  away  and  later  returned  to 
New  York,  leaving  the  southern  colonies  unmolested  for 
nearly  three  years  longer,  after  which  they  became  the  chief 
seat  of  military  operations  and  continued  as  such  until  the 
close  of  the  war.8 

a  Lodge,  "Story  of  the  Revolution,"  ch.  vi. 


REVOLUTION    AND    INDEPENDENCE  409 

III 

THE  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE 

In  the  meantime  a  strong  sentiment  was  growing  up 
among  the  colonies  in  favor  of  formally  renouncing  all 
allegiance  to  the  king  and  declaring  themselves  independent 
of  the  mother  country.  During  the  first  stages  of  the  war 
hardly  any  American  of  prominence,  possibly  with  the  ex- 
ception of  Samuel  Adams,  entertained  any  idea  of  separa- 
tion. Benjamin  Franklin  declared  that  whatever  else  the 
Americans  might  desire,  they  did  not  want  independence,  and 
Washington  asserted  that  at  the  time  he  took  command  of 
the  army  (July,  1775)  he  abhorred  the  idea  of  separation. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  opinions  of  these  two 
leaders  expressed  the  general  sentiment  of  their  countrymen 
in  the  summer  of  1775.  They  all  hoped  and  prayed  for  a 
reconciliation  with  the  mother  country,  for  there  were  few 
who  did  not  feel  a  certain  sense  of  pride  in  being  a  part  of 
the  great  British  Empire.  It  was  therefore  with  genuine 
regret  that  they  were  forced  to  abandon  all  hope  of  re- 
conciliation. 

But  by  the  time  of  the  evacuation  of  Boston  a  great  re- 
vulsion of  sentiment  against  the  continuance  of  the  union 
with  Great  Britain  had  taken  place.  This  was  due  to  a  com- 
bination of  circumstances.  In  the  first  place,  the  Conti- 
nental Congress  had,  in  July,  1775,  addressed  a  respectful 
petition  to  the  king,  praying  for  a  repeal  of  those  statutes 
of  Parliament  which  had  borne  with  so  much  oppression 
upon  the  Americans.  This  "  olive-branch  "  petition  the  king 
contemptuously  refused  to  receive,  and  in  the  place  of  an 
answer  issued  a  proclamation  denouncing  the  Americans 
as  a  dangerous,  ill-designing  and  rebellious  people.    This,  in 


410  THE    UNITED    STATES 

itself,  contributed  much  to  the  alienation  of  his  American 
subjects  and  to  the  development  of  a  strong  sentiment  in 
favor  of  separation. 

In  addition  to  this  insulting  treatment  of  his  subjects 
the  king  further  aroused  their  indignation  by  hiring  an  army 
of  foreign  soldiers  with  which  to  complete  their  subjugation. 
These  were  the  so-called  "  Hessians,"  about  20,000  in  all, 
who  were  hired  from  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse- Cassel  and 
other  German  princes,  after  an  effort  had  been  made  to 
secure  troops  from  Catherine  of  Russia.9  They  were  not 
mercenaries,  as  is  often  asserted,  for  they  did  not  voluntarily 
engage  to  fight  the  Americans  for  personal  profit,  but  were 
hired  to  the  British  by  their  sovereigns  without  their  con- 
sent, the  king  agreeing  to  pay  a  fixed  sum  for  each  one  who 
was  killed  outright,  while  three  wounded  men  were  to 
be  counted  as  one  dead.10  Having  no  interest  in  the  war, 
many  of  them  were  easily  induced  to  desert  the  British  upon 
promise  of  grants  of  land  by  Congress. 

The  employment  of  foreign  troops  against  the  Ameri- 
cans was  bitterly  condemned  by  some  of  the  leading  mem- 
bers of  Parliament  as  impolitic  and  incompatible  with  the 
rules  of  legitimate  warfare.  In  America  it  created  intense 
indignation  and  cost  the  king  the  most  of  the  friends  he  had 
left  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  Thousands  who  had  been 
lukewarm  on  the  subject  of  independence  now  became  en- 
thusiastic supporters  of  a  declaration  severing  all  connection 
with  Great  Britain.  Congress  adopted  a  bolder  policy  and 
prepared  for  a  long  struggle,  feeling  certain  that  all  hope  of 
reconciliation  was  gone.  In  November,  1775,  it  appointed  a 
"  Secret  Committee  of  Correspondence  "  to  communicate 
with  friends  of  America  in  Europe,  and  sent  out  Silas  Deane 

» Fiske,    "  American    Revolution,"   vol.   i.   p.    161 ;    Winsor,   "  Narrative   and 
Critical  History,"  vol.  vi.  pp.  18-24. 

10  Trevelyan,  "  The  American  Revolution,"  part  ii.  vol.  ii.  p.  123. 


REVOLUTION    AND    INDEPENDENCE  411 


to  France  to  procure  arms  and  other  supplies  for  the  use  of 
the  American  army.  Deane  was  shortly  afterwards  followed 
by  other  agents,  and  soon  they  were  bestirring  themselves 
at  various  Continental  capitals  in  the  endeavor  to  secure  aid 
for  the  struggling  colonists.  In  the  same  month  also  Con- 
gress recommended  to  the  good 
people  of  New  Hampshire,  as 
it  had  already  recommended  to 
those  of  Massachusetts  in  the 
preceding  June,  to  adopt  a 
constitution  of  government  in 
conformity  with  the  views  of 
the  inhabitants,  to  last  during 
the  continuance  of  the  strug- 
gle. Finally,  on  May  15,  1776, 
Congress  recommended  all  the 
colonies  to  establish  permanent 
governments  without  regard  to 
the  possibility  of  reconciliation. 
The  royal  authority  having 
practically  collapsed  every- 
where in  America,  and  the 
colonies  being  without  settled 
forms  of  government,  most  of 
them  acted  promptly  upon  the 
advice  of  Congress,  and  before 
the  Revolution  had  advanced 
very  far  they  had  all  adopted 
constitutions,  except  Rhode 
Island  and  Connecticut,  both  of  which  continued  under  their 
liberal  charters  for  many  years  longer. 

Judged  by  the  present-day  standards  these  early  in- 
struments of  government  were  a  little  crude  in  content  and 
arrangement;  some  of  them  were  framed  by  Revolutionary 


Betsey  Ross  House,  Arch  Street, 

Philadelphia 

Where  the   first   American  flag  was 

made  from  the  design  adopted 

by  Congress 


412  THE    UNITED    STATES 

legislatures  or  Provincial  Congresses,  as  they  were  called, 
and  all  but  one  of  them  were  put  into  effect  without  popular 
ratification.  The  most  noted  of  them  were  the  constitution 
of  Virginia,  adopted  in  1776,  and  that  of  Massachusetts  of 
1780.  The  former  was  accompanied  by  an  elaborate  bill  of 
rights  drawn  up  by  George  Mason  and  containing  the  most 
admirable  statement  of  the  principles  of  American  civil  lib- 
erty then  in  existence.  The  Massachusetts  constitution, 
drawn  mainly  by  John  Adams,  likewise  contained  a  lengthy 
bill  of  rights,  and  as  a  whole  the  constitution  was  so  satis- 
factory that  it  has  been  retained  in  all  essential  particulars 
by  the  people  of  Massachusetts  until  this  day.11 

Public  sentiment  in  favor  of  separation  from  Great 
Britain  was  further  crystallized  by  the  arguments  of  Thomas 
Paine  in  a  pamphlet  entitled  "  Common  Sense,"  published 
in  January,  1776,  and  soon  spread  broadcast  over  the 
country.  Containing  a  good  deal  of  scurrilous  abuse  of  the 
English  people,  it  was,  nevertheless,  replete  with  sensible 
argument  in  favor  of  the  advantages  to  be  derived  from  a 
declaration  of  independence.  The  pamphlet  found  thou- 
sands of  readers;  in  fact,  the  primitive  presses  of  the  time 
could  not  supply  the  demand,  and  many  who  were  lukewarm 
were  thoroughly  convinced  by  Paine's  logic  of  the  expe- 
diency of  independence.  * 

As  a  result  of  these  several  causes  the  people  of  the 
colonies,  in  the  spring  of  1776,  had  arrived  at  the  conclusion 
that  Congress  should  proclaim  a  formal  separation  from  the 
mother  country.  The  first  colony  to  take  official  action  was 
North  Carolina,  whose  provincial  Congress,  on  April  12, 
instructed  its  delegates  in  the  Continental  Congress  "  to 
concur  with  the  delegates  of  the  other  colonies  in  declar- 

n  For  a  learned  discussion  of  the  legal  aspects  of  Revolutionary  constitu- 
tion-making, see  Jameson,  "Constitutional  Convention."  See  also  Morey, 
"  Revolutionary  State  Constitutions "  in  "  Annals  of  the  American  Academy  Of 
Political  and  Social  Science,"  vol.  iv. 


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REVOLUTION    AND    INDEPENDENCE  417 

ing  independency."  Other  colonies  soon  followed  the  ex- 
ample of  North  Carolina.  Finally  Virginia  took  an  ad- 
vanced step  on  May  6  by  instructing  her  delegates  to 
propose  to  the  delegates  from  the  other  colonies  a  declara- 
tion of  independence.  In  pursuance  of  these  instructions 
Richard  Henry  Lee,  chairman  of  the  Virginia  delegation, 
on  June  7,  offered  a  resolution,  "  that  these  United  Col- 
onies are,  and  of  right  ought  to  be,  free  and  independent 
States,  that  they  are  absolved  from  all  allegiance  to  the 
British  Crown,  and  that  all  political  connection  between  them 
and  the  State  of  Great  Britain  is,  and  ought  to  be,  totally 
dissolved."  After  a  brief  debate  on  this  resolution  it  be- 
came evident  that  the  delegates  were  not  ready  to  vote,  most 
probably  because  they  preferred  to  get  instructions  from 
their  constituents  before  taking  action  on  so  vital  a  ques- 
tion. Upon  motion,  therefore,  further  discussion  was  post- 
poned until  July  1,  by  which  time  the  States  could  be  heard 
from. 

Meantime  a  committee  consisting  of  Thomas  Jefferson, 
Benjamin  Franklin,  John  Adams,  Roger  Sherman,  and 
Robert  R.  Livingston  was  appointed  to  make  draft  of  a 
declaration  to  be  used  in  case  Lee's  motion  should  prevail. 
Prompt  action  was  taken  by  the  States,  and  by  the  time 
July  1  arrived  all  except  New  York  had  empowered  their 
delegates  to  vote  for  independence.  Lee's  resolution  was 
now  taken  from  the  table  for  debate,  and  a  lively  and  pro- 
tracted discussion  ensued.  The  great  majority  of  the  dele- 
gates were  in  favor  of  the  declaration,  but  the  minority  was 
able  and  respectable  and  was  led  by  John  Dickinson,  famous 
as  the  author  of  the  "  Letters  of  a  Pennsylvania  Farmer." 
His  principal  arguments  were  that  the  proposed  action  was 
rash,  that  it  would  cause  the  Americans  to  lose  their  last 
friend  in  England  and  that  the  declaration  ought  to  be  de- 
layed until  independence  had  been  achieved  as  an  actual  fact. 


418  THE    UNITED    STATES 

In  spite  of  all  opposition  Lee's  motion  was  adopted  on  July 
2,  all  the  States,  except  New  York,  voting  in  the  affirma- 
tive. On  July  4  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was 
formally  adopted  by  the  unanimous  vote  of  twelve  colonies, 
and  a  little  later  the  New  York  delegates,  having  received 
instructions,  gave  their  adhesion.  The  Declaration  was  not 
signed  on  the  4th,  as  is  popularly  believed,  but  received 
the  signatures  of  the  members  present  on  August  2.12 

The  draft  of  the  Declaration,  probably  the  most 
famous  of  American  state  papers,  was  prepared  by  Thomas 
Jefferson,  a  young  Virginian,  then  but  thirty-three  years  of 
age,  and  the  youngest  member  of  the  committee.  It  began 
with  a  recital  of  certain  "  self-evident "  truths,  such  as  the 
equality  of  man ;  the  inherent  right  of  life,  liberty,  property, 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness ;  the  doctrine  of  the  consent  of 
the  governed  as  the  basis  of  government,  and  the  right  of 
revolution  when  governments  become  destructive  of  the  ends 
for  which  they  are  created.  Then  followed  a  long  indict- 
ment against  the  British  king  (Parliament  being  completely 
ignored) ,  charging  him  with  many  crimes  against  the  rights 
and  liberties  of  the  colonies,  one  or  two  of  which,  however, 
were  stricken  out  by  Congress  on  the  ground  that  they  were 
not  well  founded.13  Finally  there  was  the  declaration  also 
of  absolution  from  all  allegiance  to  the  British  Crown  and 
of  independence  of  Great  Britain,  for  the  maintenance  of 
which  the  signers  pledged  their  "  lives,  their  fortunes,  and 
their  sacred  honor." 

The  news  of  the  adoption  of  the  "  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence "  was  carried  to  all  the  colonies  as  rapidly  as  the 
crude  means  of  communication  then  existing  would  permit, 
and  was  received  by  extraordinary  demonstrations  of  pop- 

12  Winsor,  "  The  Narrative  and  Critical  History,"  vol.  vi.  p.  268 ;  also  Friecl- 
enwald,  "  The  Declaration  of  Independence." 

13  Schouler,  "  Life  of  Thomas  Jefferson/'  p.  80. 


t 


#1 


REVOLUTION    AND    INDEPENDENCE  42] 

ular  rejoicing.  It  was  read  at  the  head  of  the  army,  from 
the  pulpit  and  the  public  platform,  and  was  welcomed  every- 
where with  firing  of  cannon,  ringing  of  bells,  and  pyro- 
technic displays.  Thus  after  years  of  protest  against  British 
tyranny,  after  the  advances  of  the  colonies  in  the  direction 


The  Old  "Liberty  Bell,"  Independence  Hall 
Philadelphia 

of  reconciliation  had  been  rejected,  and  armies  sent  over  to 
coerce  them  into  submission,  the  Americans  had  formally 
renounced  all  allegiance  to  the  mother  country.  The  die  was 
cast,  "  a  new  empire  had  suddenly  risen  in  the  world,  styled 
the  United  States  of  America."  14 

14  See  Lodge,  "  Story  of  the  Revolution,"  ch.  vii 
END    OF    VOL.    I 


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